Blow my mind
by Ultimate Queen of Cliffies
Summary: It's Shiz-era. It's Fiyeraba. It's fluff. Need I say more? Check out the sequel, Be With Me :).
1. Chapter 1 Don't wish

**AN: Hi! **

**So I was getting a little bit tired (quite literally) of all the AU and the elaborate plot planning in both Ocean's Daughter and You're Still The One, and so I decided that I needed something nice and simple and fluffy. **

**This is just going to be a light, cute little Fiyeraba thingy, set after the Lion Cub scene. **

**Hope you like it, and please review! :)**

* * *

**Chapter 1. Don't wish**

For perhaps the first time in her life, Elphaba Thropp wasn't paying attention in class.

It wasn't that the subject wasn't interesting, because it was. The professor was discussing a book with them that she had read at least a thousand times, and she loved it, even though the other students in her Literature class seemed bored. It wasn't even that someone was purposefully distracting her, as Galinda and Fiyero – and sometimes Avaric, when he was in a particularly obnoxious mood - so loved to do.

Yet she was distracted. And the person that was distracting her for once didn't even have the faintest clue that he was doing it.

At first, when Galinda had realised that her best friend and boyfriend were starting to get along, she had been excited. She had always complained to the both of them that they should at least _try _to get along, for her sake; at which Elphaba had always replied that she would make an effort if Fiyero would stop making 'funny' remarks about her skin, while Fiyero usually declared that he would do it the moment Elphaba stopped 'acting like a prickly cactus'. Galinda had _not _been pleased, and so when at last they had given in and at least tried to be civil to one another, she had given them both a bone-squishing hug and declared that she loved them.

Then Doctor Dillamond had been removed, and with that came the incident with the Lion Cub. After that, Fiyero and Elphaba had been acting so awkward around one another that even Galinda had noticed, though she decided to attribute it to the fact that Elphaba's favourite teacher had been removed in such a forceful way and her best friend was just a little bit off because of that.

She had been right, of course; but the fact that Elphaba had been 'off' had had as much to do with Doctor Dillamond as it did with a certain Vinkun prince.

It was a few weeks later that Fiyero had approached Elphaba, looking embarrassed and refusing to meet her gaze. He had confessed to her that he was failing again and that Morrible had threatened that he would get flunked out again if he failed the upcoming midterms.

She had folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. 'And since when do _you _care?'

He had flushed. 'I like Shiz,' he had said defensively. His shoulders had sagged. 'And I don't want to disappoint my parents again,' he had mumbled, as if he felt ashamed to admit that. 'I've already disappointed them so many times.'

Elphaba had been pleasantly surprised that he cared about that – the fact that he had already been either expelled from or flunked out of three other schools clearly said that he hadn't really cared about his parents being disappointed before. She also felt a little bad for him as he had stood there, looking like a beaten puppy; and so she had conceded, agreeing to tutor him a few times a week.

Slowly, the two of them had started to grow closer together, up until the point where Elphaba thought it safe to say that they were friends. Galinda had actually resorted to bouncing and squealing with delight at that. She wanted nothing more than for everyone to get along, and for her boyfriend and her roommate to actually become _friends _– that was more than she had dared to hope.

Elphaba sighed and tapped her pencil against the table. The professor looked up with an irritable expression on his face and she quickly seized the movement. What was the matterwith her? She couldn't even remember the last time she had been daydreaming in class.

She knew very well what had caused it, though. Even though it was stupid.

Ever since she and Fiyero had become friends, he had started… touching her.

Not inappropriately. Of course not. But barely anyone ever touched her, and she had found it unnerving to say the least that apparently he felt the need to touch as much as he did. She had thought Galinda was cuddly – always wanting to give her roommate hugs and fumbling with her long black hair – but Fiyero was even worse. When he borrowed her pencil, he touched her hand. When he leaned over to whisper something in her ear, he used that as an excuse to drape his arm across the back of her chair. Honestly, it made her nervous. Save the occasional hug from Galinda or Nessa placing her hand on her sister's arm, she _really _wasn't used to being touched, and it made her feel uncomfortable… yet she liked it.

And now, just before her Literature class, he had come running up towards her with a beaming smile on his face. 'I have a B!' he had shouted, sweeping her off her feet – literally – and spinning her around. 'I have a B for my History exam!'

She couldn't help but smile at that, but that smile had quickly faded when he suddenly pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. 'Thank you, Fae! Thank you so much!'

He hadn't noticed her flushed face when he pulled away, nor the dazed look in her eyes or the fact that she was pretty much gaping at him. He just danced away from her, yelling loudly, 'Did you hear that? I got a B in history!' at a random student who had no idea what the prince was talking about, and then he had left.

Just the memory of it made her face flush all over again. Not only had he voluntarily touched her –though her reaction had pretty much been the same after he'd done that for the first time – but he had actually _hugged _her. He had picked her up and whirled her around in front of everyone. It made her wonder if he had lost his mind… but it had been nice. Or, well, okay – better than nice. It had felt amazing.

She absent-mindedly rubbed her arms, telling herself that she had goose bumps all over just because it was rather cold in the classroom and for no other reason. No other reason at all.

As soon as the bell rang, Elphaba collected her things and almost fled the classroom.

'Elphie!' The moment Galinda spotted her, she waved enthusiastically and bounced over to greet her friend. 'How was literature? Was it drearifying?'

Elphaba bit back a laugh. 'No, Galinda, it wasn't dreary. I like Literature, you know that-'

Not even listening, Galinda grabbed her arm and dragged her with her, chattering all the while. 'Well, that's actually not what I wanted to talk to you about. See, Elphie, this weekend, there's going to be this thing – it's not really a party, but kind of a get-together with some people, and-'

'No.'

Galinda stopped dead in her tracks and whirled around, bringing her face close to Elphaba's, noses almost touching. She jabbed a finger in Elphaba's chest. 'Now you listen to me very carefully, Elphaba Thropp,' she hissed dangerously.

The green girl gulped. Galinda could be quite scary for a frilly pink cupcake when she wanted to be.

'It's a small thing,' Galinda continued. 'Just you, me, Fifi, Biq, Pfannee, Shenshen, Avaric-'

'Avaric will be there?' Elphaba's eyes widened and she stepped back. 'Then it's a _definite _no.'

'And I'm going to take you there,' Galinda went on as if her friend hadn't interrupted her. 'I'm going to give you a makeover, and I'm going to take you there. And you're going to have _fun_.'

'Galinda?'

'Yes?'

Elphaba leaned forward conspiratorially to whisper in Galinda's ear. The blonde waited expectantly, but when Elphaba just brought her face close to Galinda's ear and whispered, '_No_,' she stomped her foot. 'Elphie!'

Elphaba crossed her arms.

Galinda widened her eyes and pouted. 'Elphie, please?'

Elphaba sighed. 'Galinda, you know what happens when you put me and Avaric in a room together. One of us is going to end up dead.'

'Oh, who cares if Avaric dies?' Galinda said, waving her hand dismissively, and Elphaba flashed her a grin. 'What makes you think it won't be the other way around and _he _is going to murder _me_?'

'Oh, please, Elphie,' said Galinda with a derisive snort. 'I saw you punching the boy that called Nessa a cripple the other day – you have good aim, by the way. Plus, Avaric is bound to be drunk practically before we arrive. You can totally take him.'

Elphaba smiled at her friend, though the memory of that boy almost caused her temper to flare up again. She hated it when people called her little sister names, and though she hadn't lost control of her magic that time, she _had _lost control of her temper. She had broken the boy's nose and kneed him in a sensitive place, earning her a warning from Morrible, but luckily she hadn't been suspended or – Oz forbid – expelled. 'Still, Glin. I'm going to have to say no,' she insisted.

'But Elphie,' the blonde tried desperately, ' you need to socialise! Do fun stuff, make new friends…' She made big puppy dog eyes again, staring at Elphaba imploringly. '_Please? _Pretty please, Elphie?' She knew Elphaba could never say no to that face, and she was right.

The dark-haired witch groaned, then threw her arms up in the air in a sign of defeat. 'Alright, fine! I'll come with you.'

Galinda squealed loudly and launched herself at Elphaba in a hug. 'Oh thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! We're going to have so much fun!'

'I doubt that,' Elphaba muttered under her breath, but Galinda didn't even hear.

* * *

Elphaba already regretted agreeing to come before she had even arrived at the party.

She had intended to spend the day studying, but around noon, Galinda had insisted on dragging her to town to buy her something nice to wear. She wasn't sure what had gotten into her, but half an hour later she found herself in a dressing room with an enormous pile of dresses, tops, skirts, and shoes, a bouncy Galinda waiting just outside for her to try everything on.

It took the blonde two hours to finally decide on a strapless midnight blue dress that only barely covered the things that necessarily needed to be covered. Elphaba had immediately planted her hands on her hips and declared that even her _bathing suit _covered more skin and therefore she would _never _wear anything this exposing. Her roommate had pouted and pleaded, but Elphaba had dug in her heels and finally, Galinda grudgingly agreed on a black skirt with some layers that reached Elphaba's knees. She combined it with a dark purple top with spaghetti straps and some beading at the top, promising Elphaba that she had the _perfect _shoes to go with that outfit.

After that, the raven-haired witch spent two hours sitting at a vanity with Galinda fumbling around with her hair and make-up, after which she had to wait for another hour for her roommate to finish her own hair and make-up. 'Glin,' she sighed after a while. 'Who exactly are you trying to impress? The only boys there will be Fiyero, Boq, and Avaric.'

Galinda poked her head out of the bathroom, looking confused. 'Wait. His name is _Boq_?'

Elphaba shot her an exasperated look, but Galinda missed the hint. 'You mean it's not _Biq_?'

Elphaba rolled her eyes.

The blonde stomped her foot. 'Why did you never tell me?' she demanded, at which her friend resisted the urge to bury her face in her pillow. 'Glin, I told you that a _thousand _times!'

'Oh.' Galinda pursed her lips and retreated back into the bathroom. 'Well, it's not about impressing someone, Elphie,' she called through the open door. 'It's about looking good when you're going somewhere where there will be people.'

Elphaba groaned. 'And what exactly is the plan for the get-together-thing?' she asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer. She knew that if it involved Avaric, it would involve alcohol; and if it involved Pfannee and Shenshen, it would involve kissing. Elphaba wasn't really comfortable with either.

Galinda appeared, all dressed and ready, and winked at her friend as she grabbed her purse. 'You'll see.'

For some reason, that did nothing to reassure Elphaba.


	2. Chapter 2 Don't start

**Chapter 2. Don't start**

The two girls walked together to the dorm room Pfannee and Shenshen shared together, only to find that they were not the first to arrive. _Surprise there_, Elphaba thought sarcastically. With all the time it had taken for Galinda to get ready, they were at least half an hour late, but no one seemed to mind.

Avaric was sitting on the floor with Pfannee in his lap and Shenshen giggling at him as she stuck to his side as if she was glued to him. All three of them looked like they had already had a few drinks.

Boq, who was sitting alone, sulking, clearly perked up when Galinda arrived, and Elphaba had to stifle a laugh. Fiyero hadn't arrived yet, but barely five minutes later he came into the room. 'Hi. Sorry I'm late.'

The truth was, he hadn't really planned on coming at all. He knew these kinds of get-togethers, after all, and he didn't really feel like a night of drinking and kissing all girls present. But when Galinda had told him she was bringing Elphaba, he had started to think about it, and finally, at the last minute, he had decided to go nonetheless.

'Want some punch?' Pfannee giggled, and Galinda giggled back at her. 'Yes, please!'

'You, too, Arti- I mean, Elphaba?' the redhead asked innocently, and Elphaba eyed her warily, but nodded. 'Sure.'

Galinda immediately moved over to her two friends to chatter with them, and Pfannee handed Elphaba a glass of punch before joining them. The green girl sipped the pink-coloured stuff, then decided the taste wasn't awful and emptied her cup all at once. Pfannee immediately fetched her a new one.

'Let's play Seven Minutes in Heaven!' Shenshen suggested, eyeing Avaric with an impish smile, and he grinned back at her. 'Sure. Eeny meeny miny moe?'

'No, spin the bottle!' Galinda giggled, and she pulled Elphaba down onto the floor with her as Avaric went to fetch a bottle – not too hard for him, since he had emptied one only minutes before. 'So… rules?'

'Okay, so we take turns spinning the bottle,' Galinda explained, for Elphaba's sake, who had never done anything like this before. 'You and the one it lands on will be locked up in the…' She looked around. 'Closet?'

Shenshen made a face. 'Too full with clothes,' she said, with a reproaching look at Pfannee, and Elphaba stifled a laugh despite herself. She knew the feeling of a roommate with too many clothes.

'Bathroom?' Pfannee offered instead, and the others nodded. 'Okay. In the bathroom,' Galinda went on, 'for seven minutes, and they have to do… well, whatever it is they want to do.'

Despite her lack of experience, Elphaba wasn't completely dense when it came to these sorts of things, and she gulped. She _knew _it had been a bad idea to let Galinda drag her here.

'Are you allowed to refuse someone?' asked Pfannee, eyes quickly flicking towards Elphaba for a moment, but no one but Elphaba herself noticed. 'Yes,' Shenshen said. 'But if you do, you have to take a shot instead.' She held up the bottle of liquor.

'Okay!' Galinda squealed. 'I'll go first!' She spun the bottle. It pointed to Avaric.

He wiggled his eyebrows at her. 'What do you say, Blondie? Shall we go and have some fun in the bathroom?'

She squealed again, but now indignantly. 'No way, you creep!'

Avaric looked crestfallen for a moment. The others laughed at him and Galinda declared, 'I refuse.' She took her shot, then spun again. This time, it landed on Shenshen.

She sighed. 'Well, I suppose I could do worse.'

'It's not so bad,' Shenshen assured her. 'I mean, we don't have to _do _stuff. I don't swing in that direction,' she clarified unnecessarily. 'But I heard some _amazing _gossip, Galinda.'

Galinda's face lit up. 'Ooh, gossip!' The girls hurried inside the bathroom and soon there were muffled giggles and voices coming through the door.

Avaric rolled his eyes. 'Where's the fun in that?' he complained, downing another shot.

'Want some more punch, Elphaba?' Pfannee offered sweetly, and Elphaba nodded. 'Sure.'

Fiyero placed his hand on her arm, concerned. 'Fae, you might want to cut it down a little bit on the…' Before he was done speaking, she had already gulped down her third glass of punch, and he faltered. 'Never mind.'

She felt a bit light-headed, though she wasn't sure why. The fact that Fiyero was touching her again? That would probably be it.

Galinda and Shenshen returned, both their faces flushed and they were still giggling as they peered at Pfannee, who in return flushed when she realised the gossip had been about her. 'Okay, Artichoke's turn!' she snapped, directing everyone's attention back to the game.

Elphaba spun. Pfannee.

'Ew!' the redhead shrieked. 'No way!'

'Yes, well, that goes for me, too,' Elphaba snapped back at her, taking her shot – which tasted awful – and spinning again.

Avaric.

Without having to ask for it, Galinda handed her the shot and Elphaba downed it before spinning again.

'Aw, come on, greenie,' Avaric said, annoyed. 'It's not so bad to be in a dark bathroom with me!'

'I'd rather kill myself,' Elphaba declared, and he quipped, 'What's keeping you?'

'Guys!' Galinda tried to calm them. 'Elphie took her shot and that's it. She spun again. It's…' She peered over at the bottle and blanched a little. 'Fiyero.'

Fiyero perked up at this, but Elphaba shook her head. 'I pass.'

His face fell, though she didn't notice that. Galinda placed a hand on her roommate's arm. 'Elphie, he's your friend. It's not so bad, is it?'

'That's not it, Glin,' Elphaba tried to explain. 'He's your boyfriend. I can't do that to you.'

Galinda's eyes suddenly filled with tears and she sniffled, then threw her arms around her best friend. 'Elphie, you are the bestest friend _ever_!'

Smiling, Elphaba accepted her next shot, then spun the bottle once more. Avaric again.

She threw her hands up in the air in frustration. 'Why?' she demanded of no one in particular.

'Yes, well, you can't pass again,' Shenshen said. 'General rule. You can only pass three times per turn. Elphaba and Avaric are down for the bathroom.'

'I need more alcohol,' Elphaba muttered under her breath, not entirely joking, and Galinda handed her another glass of punch. 'Here.'

'There's no alcohol in that,' Elphaba protested, and Galinda looked at her, puzzled. 'Yes, there is.'

'There _is_?' Well, that certainly explained the light-headedness. She glared at Pfannee. 'You didn't say that when you offered me three glasses of it!'

'I didn't?' Pfannee grinned at her maliciously. 'Oops.'

'In the bathroom!' Shenshen chirped happily, and before she knew it, Elphaba found herself thrown over Avaric's shoulder and kidnapped into the bathroom. 'Let me go, creep!'

'Rules are rules, cabbage,' he said, dumping her inside and locking the door behind him. He grinned at her, his white teeth glittering in the scarce light. 'So, where would you like to start?'

'If you even think for _one _clock-tick that I'm going to so much as _touch _you, you're wrong,' Elphaba snapped.

He was quiet for a while, and she thought he might have given up; but then suddenly, he grabbed her wrist and forcefully yanked her towards him, trying to kiss her.

Her body reacted before her mind did and she punched him in the gut.

He doubled over, crying out. 'Shiz, woman! What was _that _for?'

She looked at him in utter disbelief. 'Do you really need to ask?'

He grunted and shifted a little, wincing in pain. 'Most girls don't react like that when I try to kiss them,' he complained, and she glared at him. 'Well, I'm not most girls.'

He grabbed her ankle and pulled it, causing her to topple over as well. Her head banged hard against the edge of the bathtub and black spots and stars danced in front of her eyes for a moment. 'That hurt, you pervert!'

'Yes, well, so did _this_!'

She growled. 'I wish I could murder you without getting expelled.'

'Secretly, you just wish you could bang me.'

She deciphered his face in the dark and crawled over to him, then struck him across his face. His surprised gasp told her that he had not been prepared for that, but then he slapped her face as well, which only fuelled her anger.

He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her against the wall. 'Don't play games with me, greenie,' he groaned. 'You want this just as much as I do.'

'Are you delusional?' she demanded, pushing him away. 'I meant what I said before, Avaric, and I'll say it again. I would rather bite off my own tongue, then jump into a pit filled with poisonous snakes, than do that with you. Understood?'

There was a knock on the door. 'Time's up!' Galinda called, and Elphaba immediately flew out. 'I'm done,' she declared hotly, making her way across the room. 'I'm leaving.'

Fiyero caught her around the waist, while Galinda stared at Avaric wide-eyed. 'What happened?'

He was still hunched over a little and he was nursing a black eye. He pointed at Elphaba. 'Her.'

Galinda followed his gaze and gasped. 'Elphie! You're bleeding!'

Elphaba's hand came up to touch her lip, which was stinging, and she realised the jerk had split it. She glared at him, her vision still a little blurred because she had hit her head so hard. He just glared back at her. 'You should be glad that Galinda interrupted us,' he sneered. 'Or who knows what I would have done to you.'

Her temper flared up again. 'Excuse me? I think _you're _the one with a black eye here.'

'Yes, and you're the one with a split lip and a concussion,' he snapped back. 'Though I hope it's worse than that,' he couldn't help but add. 'Brain damage or something.' He rubbed his stomach with a painful expression. 'Oz, woman, your knee is hard.'

'Next time I'll aim lower,' she hissed, and Galinda said calmingly, 'Alright, that's enough, the two of you.'

'It certainly is.' Elphaba yanked her arm free from Fiyero's grip. 'I'm leaving.'

Galinda quickly jumped in front of her. 'Elphie, please?' she begged. 'It's just starting to be fun! I promise we won't put you with Avaric again, right guys?' She looked at her friends for help, and they all nodded obediently. 'You won't even have to take a shot if your bottle lands on him,' Galinda promised. 'Please, Elphie?'

Elphie sighed, but relented. 'Fine.'

She was probably going to regret this.

* * *

Two hours later, they were still playing the game and some of them were decidedly drunk – Avaric, Pfannee, Shenshen and Boq, to be exact. Elphaba had been surprised at the Munchkin, but he seemed to think that alcohol would give him the courage to make a move towards Galinda.

Galinda herself was tipsy, if not drunk, and Fiyero seemed to be even more happy-go-lucky than usual. Elphaba herself still knew what she was doing, for which she was grateful, but she was light-headed and felt as if there was a fog in her head. She wasn't sure if she found it a pleasant feeling or not.

In the meantime, Pfannee and Shenshen had each spent seven minutes in the bathroom with Avaric, as well as with each other; and Galinda had spent a suspicious amount of time in there with Boq, not coming out until over ten minutes had passed, despite the others constantly banging on the door and yelling that their time was up. Now they were back at the starting point, and Galinda spun the bottle again, squealing as it landed on Fiyero. 'Yay, Fifi!'

When they got back, Elphaba noticed that Fiyero was staring at his shoes, seemingly a bit embarrassed, while Galinda was biting her bottom lip. When she sat down next to the green girl, Elphaba gingerly placed one hand on her roommate's arm. 'Glin? You okay?'

Galinda gave her a watery smile and nodded, and when the others started whining, Elphaba took the bottle again and spun it.

It landed on Fiyero.

Elphaba already started to shake her head, but Galinda said quietly, 'Just go, Elphie. I don't mind.'

The young witch looked at her friend. 'Are you sure, Glin? I mean, I understand if you…'

Galinda waved her away. 'Honestly, I don't mind.'

Fiyero was already on his feet and holding his hand out to Elphaba, that smile on his face that always managed to make her knees feel weak, and she hesitated for a moment before taking his hand, allowing him to pull her to her feet. She felt his hand on the small of her back as he guided her towards the bathroom door, and she could hear her heart pounding in her ears as she entered the dark room, soon followed by him.


	3. Chapter 3 Seven minutes

**AN: Thank you all so much for your reviews! I really appreciate it :).**

**Elphaba'sGirl: yeah... I used to have that problem. Ten stories in my head, and when I tried to write them down, I'd either get them mixed up or I would lose inspiration and abandon them all. It's like something just clicked one day and then I finished my first story, and I can manage more than one story, too, ever since :).**

**Not yet, PocketSevens... not yet. But the next seven minutes will set things in motion ;).**

**I hope you all like a drunk Elphaba.**

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**Chapter 3. Seven minutes**

For a moment, she just stood there, arms wrapped around herself, mouth dry. What was he going to do now? Would he be kind enough to just leave her alone until their seven minutes were over, or was he going to pounce on her? He had had quite some drinks – though she knew that he could hold his liquor… But if he tried something, she could still take him, right? She wasn't _that _drunk yet… right?

The only sound that filled the room was her slightly ragged breathing, and when she felt something touching her hand, she almost yelped. 'Hey, easy,' Fiyero's voice said from the dark. 'It's just me.'

She let out a shaky breath, but she didn't feel relieved. Somehow, he seemed to sense her discomfort, because he said, 'Fae, don't be scared. I'm not going to force you into anything you don't want.'

'Really?' The pathetic question escaped her lips before she could stop it, but he didn't seem to mind. 'Really. Oz, Fae, what do you think I am? A savage?'

She felt herself blushing furiously – thank Oz it was too dark in here for him to see. 'No. I'm sorry.'

He chuckled softly. 'It's okay.'

She reached out and shuffled around in the dark until she found the edge of the bathtub, where she sat down. 'So now what?'

'I don't know,' he said, sitting down next to her. 'Now we talk. Or we kiss. Or we just sit here until our seven minutes are up. Your wish is my command, Elphaba.'

She heaved a shaky sigh. She wished it were that easy. She wished she could just kiss him now, no consequences later. But even with all the shots and punch she'd had, she didn't dare doing such a thing. Not when he was with her best friend and roommate. And besides, he would probably get mad at her – he was just joking when he talked about kissing just now. He would never want to kiss the Artichoke.

She stiffened when she felt his fingers in her hair. 'What are you doing?'

He didn't reply, but kept on gently prodding her scalp until he hit the spot where she had hit her head against the bathtub before. She hissed in pain and he stilled. 'Fae, there's a gigantic bump there.'

'Tell me about it,' she said sarcastically. He prodded the spot once again, making her squirm. 'Fiyero, that hurts!'

'You should go to the infirmary. I think it's been bleeding, too…'

'How can you even tell? It's pitch black in here.' She crossed her arms. 'And I'll be fine.'

His fingers retreated from the spot, but didn't move away from her hair. 'Sorry.'

Again, they fell silent, until she felt him starting to twirl her hair around his fingers. She didn't say anything, secretly liking the feeling of his fingers in her hair, and he didn't say anything either.

Finally, he broke the silence. 'We still have a few minutes left. We should mess with the others.'

Elphaba turned her head towards him, despite the fact that he couldn't see her. 'Mess with them, how, exactly?'

Immediately, he started moaning loudly. 'Oh, Elphaba!'

Normally, she would have shoved him, but right now, in the dark, slightly tipsy, she just grinned. 'Are you being serious?'

'Oh, yes, do that thing with your _tongue _again!' he said loudly, loud enough for the others outside the door to hear, and she could hear the grin in his voice. She doubled over with laughter. 'You are such an idiot!'

'Play with me here,' he whispered to her, and she giggled. 'Oh, yes, Fiyero! You are such a _naughty _boy!'

'Then punish me, Elphaba!'

'My pleasure,' she purred, and he laughed. 'You're suspiciously good at this.'

She flushed. 'What are you trying to say?'

'Nothing,' he said quickly. 'I was just… um…' He faltered, and she poked his side. 'What?'

'Wondering…' He swallowed, fidgeting uncomfortably. 'If you, um… have any… you know… experience.'

Her face flushed again – why did that keep on happening around him lately? A bit sharper than she'd intended, she snapped back at him, 'What do you _think_, Fiyero? Do you think the green bean has so much experience? Do you really think that there is _any _guy out there that would want to do such things with me?'

'Well, I know someone-'

'Don't say it,' she cut him off. 'If you so much as _say _the name Avaric, I'm going to throw up. He doesn't count. He does those things with anything that breathes – and most likely some things that _don't _breathe as well.'

Fiyero stifled a laugh at that. 'True.' Then he quickly grew serious again. 'I wasn't talking about Avaric, though.'

She looked at him, trying to decipher his facial expression in the dark while waiting for him to elaborate. He didn't, and she didn't ask. She stared at her lap again, hands fidgeting with her skirt. 'So no,' she said, answering his question. 'I don't have experience. None whatsoever.'

His surprise was almost tangible. 'Not even-'

'Nothing.' She shook her head and sighed. 'Never even been kissed.'

He remained silent.

'It's okay, though.' She shrugged. 'No one could ever look at me like that. No one could ever want to kiss me without throwing up, and no one could ever love me. It's fine. I've known that all my life, and I've accepted it.'

'That's not true,' he protested immediately. She felt him taking her hand and squeezing it. 'Elphaba, you'll find someone. I promise.'

'How can you promise such a thing?' She didn't sound miserable. Just defeated, which he thought was even worse. She truly had accepted this as a fact for herself, and it made him want to prove her wrong.

His fingers found her back and started trailing soothing circles there. She leaned a little bit into him, and he caught her chin with the fingers of his other hand, turning her to face him. She held her breath as she felt his own breath on her skin – she hadn't realised how close they were.

'That thing…' he said, his voice a little more throaty than before. He cleared his throat and tried again. 'About you having never been kissed…'

Her heart started to pound again, though this time it wasn't out of fear. She licked her suddenly dry lips. 'Yeah?'

'Perhaps we could fix that,' he breathed, and her breath hitched in her throat. Had she heard that right? Or was she just daydreaming again?

She could _feel _him leaning in closer, and she pressed her fingernails into her palm, the sudden sharp pain proving to her that this was real. This was real. She really was in a dark bathroom with Fiyero and he really was about to kiss her…

…and then the spell was broken by some loud bangs on the door. 'Time's up!' Avaric yelled. 'Better put your clothes back on and come out!'

Avaric. She clenched her fists. If she hadn't hated him before, she most definitely hated him now.

But then she felt Fiyero moving beside her, and suddenly she realised what she had been about to do. She had been about to kiss her best friend's boyfriend. Guilt rushed all through her – how did this happen? She knew she had feelings for him, but she had swore to herself never to act on them. One, because Fiyero would never feel the same way about her and it would most likely ruin both their friendship and her heart; and two, because it would devastate Galinda and she couldn't do that to her friend. Ever. Galinda had been the first friend in her life, as well as the best, and she would rather jump off a cliff than hurt the petite blonde girl on purpose.

With trembling fingers, Fiyero opened the door, raking his fingers through his hair. Elphaba practically dashed past him, not even looking at him. He noticed that she squirmed herself to sit between Boq and Galinda now, so that she would no longer have to sit next to him, and that stung. He mentally kicked himself. What had he been doing? Of course she wouldn't just kiss him back. There were so many reasons for her not to that he could make a list – starting with the fact that Elphaba was loyal to her friends, and that he knew she would never do something like this to Galinda.

He sighed and plopped down next to Galinda, who gave him a quick kiss. Avaric was still cradling his bottle of liquor – his third one, actually – and Elphaba reached out for it. 'Give me that.'

Avaric quirked an eyebrow at her, but handed the bottle over; and Elphaba brought it to her lips and gulped down a whole lot more of the stuff than was probably healthy for her.

Avaric eyed her appreciatively. 'I like a woman who can hold her liquor.'

She didn't dignify that with a response, only clutched the bottle to her chest protectively as Avaric opened a new one.

Galinda shot Fiyero a questioning look, asking him silently what was causing Elphaba to behave like this, but he just shrugged. Honestly, he wasn't really sure. It probably had something to do with that almost-kiss, but of course he wasn't going to tell Galinda about that.

They played on for a little bit longer, but Galinda found herself to be distracted and didn't enjoy the game as much as she had before. Fiyero was distracted as well, though for a whole different reason. Elphaba, however, seemed to have the time of her life; but when she started giggling hysterically, losing her balance and falling against Galinda, the blonde firmly pulled the bottle of liquor from her friend's hands. 'Elphie, I think you've had enough of that.'

Elphaba pouted, and Fiyero rose to his feet. 'Why don't I take you girls back?' he suggested, and Galinda nodded. 'Sure. I'm starting to get tired, anyway.'

'No!' Elphaba protested loudly. 'I don't want to go yet!'

'You're going to have your hands full on her,' Boq slurred. 'Why don't you take Miss Elphaba and then I'll take Miss Galinda home?'

Fiyero rolled his eyes. 'As if you'd be much of an escort. You can barely even stand up straight. And besides, their room is down the hall – I think I can manage them on my own.'

Boq sulked, and the prince threw his hands up in the air. 'Alright, fine! Let's just go with the four of us, okay?'

Figuring that was good enough, Boq slurred a goodbye to the others and the four of them left. Fiyero was holding Elphaba's arm, but that didn't do much good.

'Hey…' She burped and giggled. 'Oops. Are my legs made of gum? They feel like they're made of gum…' She got a faraway look in her eyes. 'Pink Galinda bubble-gum…'

Fiyero sighed and tried to pull her to her feet, but she plopped down onto the floor, crossed her arms and pouted. 'I don't want to go.'

Galinda knelt down in front of her friend. 'Come on, Elphie, it's getting really late and-' She frowned when Elphaba put her arms around the blonde's neck and batted her eyelashes at her. 'Glin? Can I tell you a secret?' she whispered loudly.

Galinda giggled. 'Sure, Elphie. Always.'

'I looooove you.'

The blonde just giggled again. 'Love you too, Elphie. Now come on, let's go back.'

Elphaba held out her arms. 'Carry me!'

'Elphie, I can't carry you.' She looked up at Fiyero, who then knelt down as well and tried to lift the green girl into his arms, but she struggled and swatted at him, letting out an indignant squeal. 'What do you think you're doing?'

'Carrying you,' he sighed, and she scowled at him. 'Did I ask _you _to carry me?'

Galinda stifled a giggle. Boq had found a garbage can and was emptying the contents of his stomach into it.

Fiyero hoisted Elphaba back onto her feet, wrapping his arm around her waist to steady her. 'Careful. Now come on.'

'Fi-fi… Yero…' she sang. Now she wrapped her arms around _his _neck. He could smell the alcohol on her breath and her eyes were slightly unfocused, but that didn't change anything about the fact that he could get lost in them.'I love you.'

That would have meant so much more to him if she had been sober. 'I know, Fae. I love you too.' If only she knew how true that was.

'Boq!' Elphaba suddenly threw herself across the hallway, bumping into the Munchkin and sending them both toppling to the floor. 'I love you!' she declared proudly.

Boq looked sullen. 'Go away, Elphie,' he complained. She hugged him, then pulled away, wrinkling her nose. 'You smell like puke.'

'Oh, dear Oz,' Fiyero muttered under his breath. Galinda just leaned against the wall, visibly tired. 'Fifi, can't you just take _me _back?' she whined.

He looked at her as if she had gone crazy. 'Galinda, we can't leave her here like this!'

Galinda pouted. 'She has Boq, doesn't she?'

Fiyero sent a significant look in the direction of the Munchkin, who hadn't managed to get back to his feet yet after Elphaba had pushed him over. 'Yes, that reassures me that she is going to get back to your dorm room safely.'

Boq had started kissing the floor. 'Ooh… Galinda…'

Elphaba was spinning around in circles, giggling. Suddenly, she went very pale and before Fiyero and Galinda knew it, she, too, was retching into the garbage can.

Fiyero pinched the bridge of his nose. Galinda giggled. 'Now you smell like puke, too, Elphie.'

Elphaba perked up. 'Yay!' She beamed at Boq. 'Now we're, like, twin sisters!'

'Fifi,' Galinda whined, tugging at his arm. 'I want to go back.'

Galinda could be annoying at the best of times, but after they had gotten together, Fiyero had quickly discovered that she was even worse when she was drunk. He himself was a happy drunk, and so was Avaric, he knew. Galinda, however, usually had mood swings when she had had too much alcohol – going from giddy and happy, to sullen and whiny, to angry in a few minutes. It was exhausting to say the least.

Boq, on the floor, had passed out; and Elphaba raised her face from the garbage can, looked a lot less happy than before and even greener than usual. 'I'm not feeling really well,' she said in a small voice, and Fiyero sighed, then moved over to her. 'Come on, let's get you back.'

'What about Boq?' asked Galinda, prodding the Munchkin with her foot. Fiyero, starting to get exasperated, snapped, 'Just leave him there. I'll pick him up on my way back.'

Galinda pouted, but left Boq alone as she bounced after Fiyero. Suddenly, the door to Pfannee and Shenshen's dorm room opened, and Avaric came out, looking annoyed upon seeing them all. 'Whaddaya doin' here?' he slurred. 'Thought you were gonna go home.'

Fiyero gritted his teeth. 'We're trying.'

Galinda giggled and pursed her lips at Avaric. 'Hiiiii, Avaric.'

He grinned back at her. 'Hi, Blondie.'

Boq, on the floor, moaned, and Fiyero rolled his eyes and handed Elphaba over to Avaric. 'Hold her up, will you? Galinda is right – I can't just leave Boq on the floor.' He figured that with Elphaba and Avaric both drunk, they wouldn't kill each other in the meantime.

He discovered that he was wrong about that when just barely after he had turned around, he heard a shriek and a cry of pain. 'Stay away from my breasts, you perv!'

'I wasn't touching your breasts!' Avaric wailed. 'I was just trying to hold you up!'

'By my breasts?'

Fiyero sighed and took in the scene before him. Elphaba, though unsteady, was on her own two feet and glaring at Avaric, who was doubled over in pain. Fiyero just sighed again.

'Av, I'll take Elphaba. Why don't you take Boq back?'

'Sure,' Avaric muttered, moving over towards the Munchkin still lying on the floor. Fiyero wrapped his arm around Elphaba's waist again and started half-dragging, half-carrying her back to the girls' dorm room. Her head lolled against his shoulder and she buried her nose in his shirt. 'Fiyero?'

'Hm?'

'You smell nice.'

He smiled slightly at that, despite himself. 'So do you, Fae.'

'But I smell like puke and alcohol.'

He chuckled. 'True. Well, you _usually _smell nice, then.'

She sighed, her eyes already half closing. He poked her. 'Stay awake. We're almost there.'

'Fifi…' she mumbled. 'Ye-ro… Yero my hero… hey… that rhymes… Yero-hero-zero-mero-dero...'

'Those aren't even words,' Galinda giggled. 'Hey, Fifi?' She tugged at his other arm and batted her eyelashes at him. She hooked her leg around his, causing him to stumble and almost fall over with both girls on top of him, but Galinda barely even noticed. She leaned closer and whispered sensually in his ear, 'How about a threesome?'

Ah, yes. Another drunk side of Galinda.

'I don't think that's a very good idea, Glin.' He carefully manoeuvred Elphaba to lean on his shoulder as he reached for the spare key he had of the girls' room. He opened the door and softly pushed Galinda inside. 'Come on.'

Elphaba was already half-asleep, and so he helped her get onto the bed and removed her boots. Then he turned towards Galinda, who had dropped face-first into her fluffy pink bedspread. 'Glin?'

'Mmh,' was the muffled response he got, and he sighed and helped Galinda remove her shoes, bringing her a nightgown and pushing her into the bathroom. 'Go change. And please don't fall asleep while you're doing so.'

She just giggled and tapped his nose, then disappeared into the bathroom. She emerged about ten minutes later, wearing her pink nightgown, and Fiyero helped her get into her bed. 'Goodnight, Galinda.'

She tilted her head back and pursed her lips, clearly waiting for him to kiss her.

He bent over and kissed her cheek.

* * *

**Review? Pretty please with a Fiyero on top? :D**


	4. Chapter 4 Sudden silence

**AN: Some of you liked drunk Elphie, some of you didn't... don't fret, from now on, she will stay sober ;). One hell of a hangover teaches you that lesson (or, well, I think it does. I wouldn't know. But Elphie is a smart girl, so...).**

**And yes, I agree with you all. Poor Yero :P.**

* * *

**Chapter 4. Sudden silence**

When Elphaba awoke in the morning, she was absolutely sure that she had not ever felt this bad in her entire life.

Her head was spinning and pounding, her mouth was dry, and her stomach churned. Before she was even completely awake, she was already throwing up into a bucket that had been placed beside her bed; and when she looked up, she found Galinda sitting on her own bed, looking at her with a mix of smugness and sympathy. 'Did you have fun last night?'

Elphaba moaned and buried her face under her pillow. 'Honestly? I can't remember.'

Galinda's smirk widened. 'Perhaps you shouldn't have had all that punch. Not to mention the entire bottle of liquor you emptied by yourself. You've barely ever even _had _alcohol before, so I wouldn't assume you have a very high tolerance.'

Elphaba just groaned something, then peeked out from underneath her pillow. 'How do you do it?' she demanded.

Galinda smoothed out her dress. 'Do what?'

'Sitting up,' Elphaba grunted. 'Not throwing up. Sitting there, completely dressed and ready to go, without so much as a hint of the fact that you have a headache.'

'I don't,' Galinda declared smugly. 'Elphie, you know I've been going to parties for years now. I may seem like the innocent little blonde, but it's not like I've been drinking water for all these years. I've had my fair share of hangovers, and by now I know how much I can take.'

Elphaba reappeared from underneath her pillow to vomit into the bucket once more.

'Oh dear,' Galinda muttered.

Elphaba eyed the bucket bleary-eyed. 'How did that even get here?'

Galinda padded over to her roommate and patted her back. 'You've been throwing up a few times during the night as well.'

She sighed. 'Oh, Elphie, I have to go, but I can't leave you here like this!'

'I'm fine,' Elphaba spluttered. 'Just give me a moment and I'll come to class as well.'

'That only proves to me how off you are,' Galinda grumbled. 'It's Sunday, Elphie. There's no class. But I'm supposed to meet Pfannee and Shenshen for a shopping spree – the Ozdust Boutique has a special Sunday sale.'

Elphaba waved one hand in the air weakly. 'Then go. I'll be fine.'

There was a knock on the door and Elphaba cringed. Galinda quickly went to open it. 'Fifi, knock a little softer next time,' she whispered. 'Elphie has a headache.'

'I figured as much,' he said. 'I just came to check on you girls.'

Galinda squealed, causing Elphaba to whimper softly. 'Oh, sorry, Elphie!' The blonde beamed at Fiyero. 'You're the sweetifyest boyfriend ever. Hey! Why don't _you _stay here with Elphie?' she suggested. 'I have to go now, but I can't leave her alone like this.'

He immediately perked up – or was that just Galinda's imagination? 'Sure,' he said a little bit too eagerly for her liking. 'I'll take care of her.'

She eyed him a bit warily, then sighed. 'Okay. Thank you, Fifi. You're the bestest.' She leaned up to give him a chaste kiss, then hurried out of the room.

Fiyero closed the door behind her, then moved over to the bed where Elphaba was lying and sat down on the edge of it. 'Hey. How are you feeling?'

She flung back the blankets, eyeing him with bloodshot eyes. 'You can say it now.'

'Say what?'

'You warned me,' she grumbled. 'You told me to slow down on the alcohol, and I didn't listen. So you might as well say 'I told you so' so that we can move on.'

He chuckled softly and reached out to smooth her tangled hair away from her face. She recoiled a little and he quickly pulled his hand back, clearing his throat awkwardly. 'I'm not saying it.'

She buried her face under the blankets again.

He rose to his feet and turned around, rummaging around in the bag he'd brought and pulling something out. 'Here.'

Her eyes peered at it suspiciously over the blanket. 'What's that?'

'A special recipe of mine,' he said a bit too cheerfully. 'It won't _cure _your hangover, but it will certainly make you feel much better.'

She looked at it, then took it from him, turning it around in her hands. She opened it and sniffed it. Then she immediately put it on the nightstand and yanked the bucket towards her, retching violently.

Fiyero climbed onto the bed with her and held her hair back, rubbing soothing circles on her back. 'I'm sorry.'

'For what?' she croaked, raising her head, and he sighed. 'For not stopping you. It's like you said – I warned you, I did, but I didn't do anything to stop you.'

She couldn't even work up the energy to roll her eyes. 'You're not my babysitter, you know. I can make my own decisions.'

'True,' he admitted reluctantly. 'But still.'

They were quiet for a while, and he got up again to take the bucket into the bathroom to clean it. He couldn't help but wrinkle his nose – he didn't usually clean up other people's vomit – but then again, this was _Elphaba_. There wasn't much that he wouldn't do for her.

When he got back, she was slowly but surely downing his 'special recipe', and he flashed her a grin. 'And?'

'It works,' she admitted. 'Or, well, I think it does. The room is still spinning and my headache is killing me, but the nausea seems to be getting better.'

He smiled at her. 'Good.'

'It tastes awful, though.'

She drank all of it, then put it back on the nightstand. She pulled the blankets up to her chest and he noticed she was still wearing the clothes she had been wearing yesterday. 'Do you want to shower?'

Her eyes widened and he looked horrified when he realised how that must have sounded. 'Not like that! I just mean that you're not feeling well, and you would probably like to feel a bit cleaner, and… Never mind.'

She looked at him, her expression unreadable. 'Fiyero?'

'Yeah?'

She closed her eyes and scrunched up her nose, wincing in anticipation of his answer. 'What did I do last night?'

He cocked his head a little to the side. 'What do you remember?'

She blushed. 'Um… it gets a little fuzzy after… you know… our, um… seven minutes in heaven.'

'Well, at least I don't have to remind you of _that _part,' he muttered, and she hid away under the blankets again.

He sighed. 'You didn't do much, Fae. Really. You drank a lot, but you didn't end up in the bathroom with anyone else. When you started giggling, Galinda and I thought it best to get you out of there and back here; only Galinda wasn't too sober anymore herself, so that became quite the challenge.' He made a face and she couldn't help but chuckle. 'I didn't do anything embarrassing, did I?' she asked a bit anxiously.

He grinned at her. 'You hugged Galinda and told her you loved her. You wanted her to carry you back. You hugged me and told me you loved me. You jumped Boq and told him you loved him. Him and you both threw up into the garbage can. Boq kissed the floor because he thought it was Galinda. Then Avaric came out into the hallway…'

Elphaba paled visibly. 'Please don't tell me I told him I loved him, too,' she begged him almost desperately.

He snorted a laugh. 'No. You kicked his shin.'

Her lips twisted into a relieved smirk. 'I can live with that.'

'And then I took you two girls back, put you in your bed and Galinda in hers, and I left.'

She looked at him suspiciously. 'That's all?'

He nodded. 'That's all.'

With a sigh, she fell back into the pillows, and he paced around the room aimlessly. 'Can I get you anything?' he asked her. 'Something to eat or to drink? Another vomit bucket? An extra blanket?'

'No,' she muttered almost indignantly, her eyes closed. 'I'm fine.'

'Fae, just the fact that you're in your bed at this time of the day instead of on your feet, proves to me that you are not fine.'

'You can leave,' she mumbled. 'I'll just sleep it off.'

He hesitated. 'Are you sure?'

She nodded, all without opening her eyes. 'Just go. I can't sleep when you're here watching me.'

He chuckled. 'Alright then.' He moved over to the bed and leaned over her to press a soft kiss to her forehead, not noticing the way her eyes snapped open when he did that. 'Sweet dreams.'

'Bye,' she said, slightly dazed, and he left. She cringed slightly upon hearing the door close, then wanted to kick herself for that stupid reaction. She sighed, cursing herself for telling him to go and cursing him for listening to her.

He had given her so many openings. So why hadn't she just swallowed her pride and told him she'd really like him to stay?

* * *

When she showed up in class the next morning, Fiyero greeted her with a lopsided grin. 'Hey. How are you feeling?'

'Fine,' she muttered, taking her seat and unpacking her bag. Before Fiyero could say anything else, Galinda plopped down in between the two of them, quickly kissing Fiyero and flashing Elphaba a smile. 'Hi, Fifi. Hi, Elphie. I actually decided to come to class today,' she declared proudly. 'Aren't you proud of me?'

Elphaba's smile was genuine and she squeezed her friend's hand. 'There may be hope for you yet,' she teased gently, and Galinda beamed back at her before turning towards Fiyero.

'Well done, Glin,' he said, clearly distracted, and her face fell.

Throughout the rest of the day, she did everything she could to attract his attention. She kissed and touched him as many times as possible ('I love you so much, Fifi!), she told him everything about her plans to go and _study _for the exam that was up next week ('Don't you think I'm smartified, Fifi?'), she gushed to him about the way his shirt matched her dress ('Aren't we just _perfect _together?'), and she told him she was going to give poor Elphie, who was still so unpopular, a makeover before school tomorrow ('Aren't I goodly, Fifi, to help my roommate get popular like this?'). And every time, his reaction was the same; nothing more than a distracted 'Sure, Glin' that completely lacked any kind of sentiment.

That night, when Galinda emerged from the bathroom, Elphaba put her book away and looked at her girlfriend. 'Alright, Glin, spit it out. What's going on?'

Galinda stiffened, then let out a nervous giggle. 'Um, nothing! What makes you think something is going on?'

'You've been quiet lately,' said Elphaba. 'And that says something, because you, my pretty, are never quiet.'

Galinda avoided her roommate's eyes as she carefully moved around the room and perched onto her bed. 'You must be imagining things.'

Elphaba raised an eyebrow.

Galinda sighed. 'Alright, fine.' She fell backwards onto her bed, staring at the ceiling. 'Elphie, can I ask you something?' she asked softly.

'I believe you already did, but go ahead.' Elphaba lay back onto her bed as well.

Galinda turned to the side to face her roommate. 'When you and Fiyero were having your Seven Minutes in Heaven,' she said. She swallowed. 'Did you… um… do anything?'

Elphaba shot up, completely shocked. '_What_?! Galinda, how could you even think such a thing?'

Galinda's lower lip trembled. 'Well, he seemed so eager to get you into that bathroom… and then those sounds you were making…'

Elphaba suddenly felt like the worst friend in the world. 'Oh, Galinda, we were just joking!' she said, feeling awful. She moved over to sit on Galinda's bed. 'I'm so sorry, Glin. We were just a little tipsy, and Fiyero thought it would make a funny joke… but nothing happened! Of course nothing happened! Galinda, I would never do such a thing to you!'

Galinda sniffled and sat up. 'Really?'

'Really.' For once, Elphaba put her own discomfort with touching people aside and hugged her friend comfortingly. 'I swear it on my mother's grave, Glin. I could never hurt you like that.'

Galinda burst into tears. 'You're such a good friend!' she wailed, burying her face in Elphaba's shoulder and soaking the green girl's dress. 'And I am so horrendible for thinking that you would do such a thing!'

Elphaba smiled wryly. 'Well, even if I wanted to, it wouldn't have happened,' she assured Galinda. 'He's not interested in me. Who would be? If he showed any interest at all, it was because he wasn't really sober anymore himself.' Or at least, that was what she had been telling herself. She knew he had tried to kiss her in that bathroom… but that wasn't because her _liked _her or anything. Not like that, anyway.

Galinda started crying all over again when she heard that, and this time, it was her who hugged her roommate. 'Oh, Elphie, that's not true! I bet there's dozens of man wanting to date you! They're probably just… um… shy?'

Elphaba chuckled. 'Nice try, Glin.'

Galinda bit her lip. 'I'm so sorry, Elphie.'

Elphaba shook her head. 'Don't be.'

The blonde girl sighed and pulled her fluffy comforter around her. 'Elphie, I think…'

'What?' Elphaba asked gently when her roommate didn't continue, and Galinda sighed. 'I think Fiyero doesn't love me anymore.'

'Don't be silly,' Elphaba said almost automatically. 'Where did you get that idea?'

Galinda buried her face in the comforter. 'You saw him today,' she said, her voice muffled. 'He was being distant, and he has been acting like that for a while now. He just…' She took a deep, shuddering breath, then shook her head. 'Never mind. It's not like I would break up with him, or something. And he would _never _break up with _me_, I'm sure of that. I guess it's just a… a phase. Maybe something is going on that he doesn't want to worry me with? You know, that he's fighting with his friends or received some news from home, or-'

'I'm sure it's just something like that, Galinda,' Elphaba said reassuringly, and the blonde smiled at her, though a bit sadly. 'Yeah… you're right.' She hugged her friend again. 'Thanks, Elphie. For listening to me.'

'Anytime, Glin.' Elphaba patted her friend's back, though she herself was not at all reassured. 'Anytime.'


	5. Chapter 5 Sudden heat

**AN: Don't fret, my fair reviewers! Fiyeraba is on its way! (*cough*Chapter7*cough*)**

**Some of you might recognice part of the first scene from one of my drabbles. That's right, I shamelessly borrowed it from myself. I just thought that it would fit wonderfully in this story. I did change some things, though (including the ending).**

**Kudos to Siarenthander for picking up on the fact that yes, the title of this story comes from yet another Train song :3. (Hey Soul Sister, to be exact. "You knew I wouldn't forget you, and so I went and let you blow my mind...")**

**To give you a taste of Fiyeraba, and to make some developments happen that I feel really have to happen before any Fiyeraba can happen, I now present thou with the fifth chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 5. Sudden heat**

It was a few days later that Fiyero went up to the girls' dorm room to find his girlfriend.

'Galinda?' He tried the door. It was open, so he didn't bother knocking and just entered. 'I wanted to ask you- whoa!' He quickly ducked out of the way as an object came flying towards him, threatening to collide with his head. He looked up, only to find Elphaba sitting at the vanity, arms crossed, glaring at him. 'Knock much?'

'If I'd known my life would be in danger if I didn't knock, I would have knocked, believe me.' He closed the door behind him and quirked an eyebrow at her. 'So is there any particular reason why you're trying to kill me or were you just bored?'

She rolled her eyes, not even dignifying that with a response. Instead, she went back to glaring at him. 'Galinda is not here.'

'I figured as much.' He leaned down to pick up the object she had thrown at the door – a hairbrush. 'You know, I'm not an expert, but I don't believe girls usually use hairbrushes to attack other people with. I do think they serve other purposes.'

'Well, _you _would know, Mr. My-hair-is-always-perfect,' she grunted, and he grinned at her, touching said hair. 'You think my hair is perfect?'

She blushed and looked away. 'No. Of course not.' She growled and pulled her fingers through her tangled strands of raven hair, a look of disgust on her face. Then she abruptly got up. 'That's it. I'm going to cut it.'

His eyes went wide. 'What?'

She was already on her way to Galinda's desk, snatching a pair of pink scissors from it and moving towards the bathroom with them. 'I hate my hair. It's always tangled and it's always in the way. I should have cut it ages ago.'

Shaken from his stupor, he shot into the bathroom after her and practically tackled her in his attempt to yank the scissors from her hands. 'Are you crazy?' he yelled, perhaps a bit too fiercely.

She spun around to face him, eyes blazing. 'Fiyero, it's _my _hair. Just let me cut it!'

He shook his head. 'I won't _ever _let you cut it,' he declared. 'You have the most beautiful hair I've ever seen and you're not allowed to cut it. Ever. Come on.' He lead her back towards the vanity and, grumbling, she sat down. He picked up the brush and took some of her hair in his hand, then hesitated and looked at her via the mirror. 'May I?'

She sighed, but gave in and nodded. He smiled at her and started brushing, carefully untangling the silky strands. 'I love your hair,' he commented softly, and she bit her lip. _I love you._ But of course she didn't say that out loud. Instead, she said a bit bitterly, 'Aren't you more into bouncy blonde curls?'

He blinked at her mirror image, surprised. 'Actually, no,' he said truthfully, continuing his brushing. 'Your hair is way prettier than Galinda's.'

She nervously twisted a strand of said hair around her finger, trying her hardest not to blush.

He continued to brush her hair and slowly, she started to relax a little, though she was wondering frantically what this meant. Why in Oz was he brushing her hair? Why was she even allowing him to?

She watched him in the mirror, careful to keep her own face unreadable. He seemed fully concentrated on his task, studying her hair as if it were some kind of precious treasure, a small smile playing around his lips. Her own lips turned upward for a moment when she saw that, but she quickly composed her face again. 'Fiyero, why are you doing this?'

He looked up and met her eyes in the mirror, surprised. 'Why wouldn't I be doing this?'

She bit her lip. 'Come on, Fiyero. I don't have much experience with friends or, Oz forbid, boyfriends, but I don't think friends usually brush each other's hair. Well,' she corrected herself, 'if they are two girls, of course, apparently they _do_, because Galinda insists on brushing my hair more than I can count. But… I mean… isn't it weird that _you _are brushing my hair?'

He smiled at her rambling. 'If you don't want me to brush your hair, just say so.'

She flushed. 'No, I…' She caught her bottom lip between her teeth again. _I want you to _sounded a bit desperate, so she settled for, 'I don't mind.'

His smile widened. 'Good.' He just kept on brushing, now running his fingers through the soft silken strands as well, and she couldn't help the soft sigh that escaped her. It was almost as if they were back in Pfannee and Shenshen's dark bathroom, sitting on the edge of the bathtub together as he ran his fingers through her hair. True, he had been trying to assess if she had hurt her head badly, but still.

Apparently, he was thinking about the same thing, because he asked softly, 'How is your head? Is the bump still there?'

She nodded slightly. 'Yeah, it's still there, but it's smaller now. It doesn't really hurt anymore.'

His fingers gently prodded the spot, and she let her eyes flutter closed for a moment. They snapped open again when he resumed his brushing and she realised what she was doing. Oz, this was not good. She had promised Galinda that she wouldn't make a move on her boyfriend, _ever_, and she had meant that promise; but the truth was that Fiyero was making it really hard for her to do so, and he hadn't even done anything. He was just brushing her hair. Big deal.

But she knew that she would keep herself in check, no matter how hard it was. She would do it because she loved Galinda, but also because she valued Fiyero's friendship, and didn't want to lose that by blurting out confessions that would only chase him away.

Fiyero looked at her via the mirror. 'Promise me you won't cut your hair.'

She frowned a little, genuinely not understanding his obsession with her hair. 'Why?'

'Because.' He ran his fingers through it again. 'It's beautiful.' He caught her gaze again in the mirror. 'You're beautiful.'

She swallowed, her mouth suddenly feeling very dry. His hands had stilled; they were frozen in place, just staring at one another, neither of them daring to make a move.

A loud, high-pitched squeal broke the spell.

'Elphie, I'm back!' Galinda squealed as she burst through the door. As if stung, Fiyero and Elphaba sprang apart, Fiyero jumping backwards and nearly stumbling over a pile of clothes, Elphaba jerking away so violently that she sent the hairbrush and a few other things from the vanity flying towards the floor. She quickly ducked under the vanity to collect them – and to hide her furious blush.

'Fifi!' Galinda squealed, pecking his cheek. 'What a nice surprise!'

He rubbed his neck, cursing his girlfriend's timing. 'Um… yeah.' He cleared his throat. 'Um, well, I just wanted to ask you… um…' In all honesty, he _really _couldn't remember what he had come to ask Galinda in the first place.

'What, dearest?' she prodded, beaming at him, and he looked over her head at Elphaba. With a pang, he noticed that she had wrapped her arms around herself protectively and that she wouldn't meet his gaze… and in that moment, he realised that he might have been wrong.

Perhaps she had feelings for him after all.

'Actually, Galinda,' he said, directing his gaze back to the blonde in front of him, 'I need to talk to you.'

That wasn't what he had come to find her for, but it was what was most important, he realised. It was wrong of him to keep dating Galinda when he so obviously had feelings for her roommate – it was unfair to both Galinda and Elphaba, and he didn't want to be unfair. He didn't want to be cruel. He still cared about Galinda, just… not like that.

Galinda's face fell slightly. 'Talk?'

Elphaba winced. Even with the little she knew about relationships, she knew that it was never a good thing when your boyfriend said that he wanted to talk to you.

'O-okay,' Galinda said in a small voice, and Fiyero gently guided her outside. 'Let's go for a walk.'

* * *

'You're breaking up with me, aren't you?'

Surprised, Fiyero looked at his girlfriend. 'What?'

She sighed and turned to face him. 'Don't bother denying it, Fiyero,' she said flatly. 'I've been trying to convince myself that you would never do such a thing, that you were too goodly for that… but then I realised that even though yes, you _are _goodly, it wouldn't be the goodly thing to do to stay with me when you're so clearly in love with someone else.'

By now, his mouth was hanging wide open, and Galinda laughed despite herself. 'Oh, come on, Fifi. I didn't _want _to see it, I truly didn't, but how could I ever have missed it?'

'But…' he spluttered. 'I never…' He was completely baffled. He thought he had kept his feelings hidden so well, but apparently, he had been more obvious than he'd thought.

'I want to hate you,' Galinda confessed to him. 'For falling in love with my best friend when you're with me. After all, I'm perfect, and so are you, so why would we not be perfect together?'

'Because I'm not perfect,' Fiyero said, shaking his head. 'And honestly, Glin, neither are you. No one is. And you're right – you should hate me, for not appreciating you, for not being happy with what I have… but I need _more_. And I'm not saying you couldn't give that to me, but…' He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed deeply. 'I just… I want… I need something that's…'

'You need _her_,' Galinda said simply, and he exhaled audibly. 'I guess.'

She chuckled tearily. 'That would be extremely romantic if I didn't want to slap you right now.'

'Then slap me,' he said immediately. 'I deserve it. By all means, if you think it would make you feel better, slap me. I feel horrible for hurting you like this, Glin.'

She heaved a quivery sigh. 'I am hurt,' she admitted. 'Just… not as much as I thought I would be. I saw it coming.'

He nodded, and she took a deep breath. Then she suddenly lashed out and struck him hard across the face.

He grimaced, and she giggled. 'You're right. That _does _make me feel better. Can I do it again?'

He looked terrified, but didn't protest, which she took as a sign that he meant what he said – he didn't want to hurt her and he wanted to make this as easy on her as he possibly could. She smiled sadly and leaned up to kiss his cheek – the one she hadn't slapped mere clock-ticks ago. 'I won't, Fifi. Don't worry.'

He laughed a bit nervously. 'Thank Oz. You hit harder than some of the guys I've been in a fight with – and they're about twice your size.'

She chuckled. 'Oh, Fifi…' She shook her head, then took another deep breath. 'Alright then. Just… um…' She fidgeted. 'I know you probably want to run up and ask her on a date right away now, but… I… Could you give me some time?' she asked him softly. 'Just because I saw it coming, doesn't mean I'm completely okay with it… and I don't think I could handle seeing you two being all happy and cuddly together so soon after you and I broke up.'

'Of course,' he assured her right away. If that's what it took, then he would do it – and besides, Elphaba was _so _worth the wait. 'Thanks, Glin. You're a great friend.'

He chewed his lip, suddenly uncertain. 'I don't know if I should ask you this, now, but… um… do you think… the feeling is… mutual?'

Much to his relief, Galinda looked amused rather than wounded. 'What, you don't know if she likes you back or not?'

He nodded sheepishly and she shook her head, smiling softly. 'Yet you broke up with me.'

He paled and wanted to start reassuring her, but she held up one hand. 'That just proves to me what I knew all along,' she said softly. 'What you feel for her is… different. You don't want to be with her because you're both popular, or both beautiful, or because you would be perfect together. You… you actually _love _her, don't you? So much that you would risk being single and, may I say, enduring the torture of hundreds of female Shiz students launching themselves on you in the hopes of becoming your next girlfriend…' He winced at the mention of that, knowing that she was right. 'You would risk her not liking you back and you two never getting together… because you don't want anyone else.'

He nodded mutely.

'Not even me.'

'Glin, I'm so sorry…'

'No, that's alright.' She patted his hand. 'You can't choose who you're in love with,' she said. 'And besides, I deserve better. I don't want a boyfriend that's secretly ogling my roommate. I want someone who loves me, truly loves me, and if you can't be that person, then I don't want you anymore.'

He smiled at her, grateful that she understood, and she shoved him. 'Just one thing.'

He could kiss her right now. 'Anything you want.'

'If anyone asks,' she said, '_I _broke up with _you_. After all, I have a reputation to uphold – not to mention the fact that I am currently holding the record of never been dumped in my entire life, and I'd like to keep it that way. I think you owe me that much.'

'Of course,' he said immediately, grinning at her. 'Never been dumped?'

She nodded proudly. 'Ever,' she declared. 'All the dumping has been done by me.'

He bowed. 'That is very admirable.'

She giggled. 'Thanks, Fifi. So we're agreed, then?'

'We're agreed,' he confirmed. 'You broke up with me because… why?'

'We were growing apart?' she supplied, and he nodded. 'Okay. I guess that's true, in a way.'

'Yes… I guess it is.' She leaned up and kissed his cheek. 'Bye, Fiyero.'


	6. Chapter 6 Trapped

**AN: A short one, because I just _had _to end it this way. Next update tomorrow, including some Fiyeraba fluff!**

**Kudos to Siarenthander for catching up on pretty much all the things I do with the titles of my stories and chapters that are inside jokes to myself. Usually by quoting songs. I think it's awesome that you're picking them all up (though this one wasn't too hard, I think ;-) ).**

**BlueD: I just rolled off my chair laughing, and it reminded me of Vinkunwildflowerqueen's story Taking Chances. I don't know if you've read it, but when Elphaba teaches at the orphanage and those three girls all want to touch Fiyero's hair ^_^.**

**Ozzie: I could never do that! Besides, if I did, Fiyero would probably jump right off my screen and chase me around to murder me :P.**

**Zelda Rules: Yep, that was the drabble ;-). Great idea of yours.**

* * *

**Chapter 6. Trapped**

When he plopped into his seat that afternoon, Elphaba gaped at him. 'Fiyero, what happened to you?'

It took him a moment to realise that she was talking about the clearly visible, bright red handprint on his cheek. He hadn't been kidding when he told Galinda she had a killer slap. 'Oh. That. Um… Galinda and I broke up.'

Elphaba, who hadn't seen her roommate since she had walked out to talk to Fiyero, was flabbergasted. 'What?' Immediately, her temper flared up. 'You broke up with her?!'

He winced. 'The public story is that she broke up with me,' he told her in a painful voice. 'You know, to spare her the hurt of being dumped, and to uphold her reputation, and… her record.'

'She's never been dumped before.' Of course Elphaba knew that – Galinda had told her proudly about that record on several occasions. 'But Fiyero, why?'

He shrugged. 'Does it matter? We just… did.' He sighed. 'I guess we just grew apart.'

She narrowed her eyes at him. 'Don't give me that crap,' she hissed. 'How hurt is she? Fiyero, just a few days ago she was going on and on to me about the fact that she thought you didn't love her anymore. I tried to reassure her, telling her that she was seeing things that weren't there, that of _course _you still loved her. And now you're telling me I was wrong?'

His shoulders sagged. 'I'm sorry, Fae. I've been keeping this up for too long,' he said softly. 'I should have done this ages ago, but I don't regret doing it. It wasn't right to let her think I loved her, and that we would get married and whatnot, when really, I was…'

He hurriedly swallowed the line 'in love with someone else' or, Oz forbid, 'in love with you', and instead said, 'not in love with her anymore. I realised I never really was.'

Elphaba stared at him for a long moment, clearly debating what to do now. He was one of her best friends, but shouldn't she shun him now for Galinda's sake? Wasn't there some kind of girl code about that?

Just then, however, Galinda dropped down into the seat beside Elphaba. 'Hi, Elphie!'

Elphaba eyed her suspiciously. 'You seem awfully chipper for a girl that just broke up with her boyfriend.'

Galinda's face fell for a moment. 'Oh, Elphie, I'm sorry I didn't come to tell you,' she apologised. 'But I was supposed to meet Pfannee and Milla and Shenshen for tea, and then I ran late and I had to hurry over here. I was going to tell you, I swear.' She beamed at Fiyero and kissed his cheek. 'Hi, Fifi.' She grimaced when she saw the hand-shaped mark on his cheek. 'Oh, Fifi, I'm sorry. I didn't hurt you too badly, did I?'

'You didn't,' Fiyero assured her. 'I'm a big boy, Glin. I can take it.' He smiled at her. 'Besides, I completely deserved it.'

'That you did,' Galinda agreed, giggling softly. Elphaba was staring at the blonde, then at the prince, then back at Galinda, in utter confusion. 'Um, would one of you care to enlighten me?'

'Fifi and I broke up, but we decided to stay friends,' Galinda declared. She whispered in Elphaba's ear, 'Please don't tell anyone that _he _broke up with _me_. It would completely ruin my-'

'Reputation, never-been-dumped record, yes, I get it.' Elphaba was still gawking at them. 'But… You hit Fiyero.'

Galinda shrugged. 'Yes.'

Elphaba looked at Fiyero. 'And you're okay with that?'

'I told her she could slap me if she wanted to,' he said with a shrug of his own. 'Like I said, I deserved it.'

The green girl looked at her roommate again. 'You don't seem very upset.'

Another shrug. 'Just a little. I saw it coming.'

'But…'

'Can we not do this now, Elphie?' Galinda squeezed her friend's arm. 'Like I said, we're still friends. Not much is going to change, anyway. Don't be mad at him – he was right for breaking up with me. And I'm fine. Really.'

Elphaba didn't believe that in the slightest, but she decided to wait until she was alone with Galinda before she would start interrogating the blonde.

When they were alone in their room that night, however, Galinda refused to tell her roommate anything else. 'Elphie, there's nothing more for you to know,' she said. 'Stop worrying about me. Everything is perfectified. In fact, I already saw another cute boy – he's in my Life Sciences class. I've never even seen him before!'

'That's probably because you never attend your Life Sciences class,' Elphaba pointed out, and Galinda faltered. 'True,' she admitted. Then she started gushing again. 'But he was totally making eyes at me. I think I'll go to Life Sciences again next week – perhaps he'll ask me out then!'

Elphaba looked at her searchingly, but found no hint that Galinda was lying or holding something back. 'So… you really are okay with the Fiyero thing?'

Galinda shrugged. 'Sure. I'm already over it.' She flopped down onto her bed. 'You know, Elphie? I don't think I really loved him, either – I just loved how we looked together. And… our relationship has been more like friendship lately, anyway. Save the occasional kiss I forced him into.' She rolled her eyes. 'Really, it's better this way.'

Despite the fact that Galinda was very convincing, Elphaba tried to avoid Fiyero as much as possible. She felt like she owed Galinda that, after what he'd done, even though the blonde assured her that there wasn't any 'girl code' she needed to take into account and that Elphaba was allowed to hang out with Fiyero as much as possible.

She successfully dodged him for about a week; it was only the next Tuesday night, when she was in the library, studying late, that he finally caught her.

'Hey.' He poked his head around a bookshelf. 'Finally, I found you.'

'Go away,' she said without so much as looking up. He sighed. 'Fae…'

'I'm studying. If you really feel the need to talk to me, then talk to me tomorrow.'

'Fae, it's eleven at night,' he stressed. 'This is no time to study.'

She looked at him now as if he had gone crazy. 'Any time is fine for studying.'

He rolled his eyes, then sat down on a couch, looking around. 'Why do you hide away here, anyway?' he asked. 'Not in the library – I know the reason for that – but in this _corner _of it? I couldn't even find you at first. Who in Oz hides in a corner behind bookshelves?'

She shrugged. 'I like it here,' she said. 'There's a desk and a couch, so it's comfortable enough; I'm surrounded by books, which is lovely; and no one can see me, which means no one can point or laugh or whisper behind my back, which is just plain awesome.'

He would have chuckled at her logic had he not so hated the thought of their fellow students laughing at her and whispering about her. 'Fae…'

She sighed. 'Don't do that,' she said tiredly. 'It's my life, Fiyero. I'm used to it.' She removed her glasses and turned to face him. 'Was there anything in particular you wanted to talk to me about?'

He hesitated. Should he tell her now? Something told him that this was neither the time nor the place.

'No,' he said finally. 'Nothing special.'

She put her glasses back on. 'Why don't you go back, then?' she suggested. 'I'll see you tomorrow in class.'

He shook his head. 'You've been avoiding me all week, Fae,' he said, and the slightly hurt undertone of his voice made her look up again. 'I just want to spend some time with you.'

Now she looked guilty. 'I'm sorry for that,' she said in a small voice. 'I didn't mean to hurt you, or anything, but you broke up with Galinda, and… and I just figured that as her best friend, I shouldn't be going around talking to you and having fun with you when you were the one to break her heart. I thought it might hurt her to see us like that.'

Fiyero smiled and wrapped his arms around her. She tensed at first, but then she relaxed a little and he allowed himself to rest his cheek against her hair for a moment, breathing in her scent. She smelled like pine needles and honeysuckle. 'You're the best friend Galinda could ever wish for,' he told her, and she felt rather than saw her smile. 'Thanks, Fiyero.'

He released her and sat back down on the couch. 'Can't I just watch you study?' he asked, turning his pleading puppy eyes on her. 'Please?'

She sighed, but she could never say no to him when he was wearing that look. 'Sure,' she agreed half-heartedly. 'If you insist.'

His smile brightened and he stretched out on the couch as she went back to her books. He took to studying _her _rather than books – a far more interesting subject than History or Politics could ever be. After a while, he felt himself grow tired and his eyes slowly closed.

He awoke when suddenly, the lights in the library were turned off. He shot up, rubbing his eyes furiously. 'What's going on?'

When he looked to his side, however, he found Elphaba lying there with her cheek resting on her book. Apparently she had drifted off as well. He smiled at the adorable picture she made, but just then, there was a loud bang and the sound of a key turning in a lock, and he gulped. That did not sound good.

'Mm?' Elphaba raised her head and looked at him sleepily. 'Fiyero? What was that?'

He swallowed. 'I don't know,' he said, and she blinked a few times before her eyes widened. 'Why are all the lights off?'

He shrugged helplessly. Immediately, she shot up and ran out towards the doors, Fiyero following close behind. There wasn't a person in sight, not even the librarian; and when Elphaba tugged at and pushed against the door, it wouldn't open.

She looked up at him with wide eyes. 'It's midnight,' she said, her voice trembling a little. 'The library closes at midnight.'

Fiyero nodded slowly and grimaced. 'The librarian must have closed the library without realising we were still here.'

Elphaba slumped against the door, voicing the thought they were both thinking.

'We're trapped.'


	7. Chapter 7 Hearts leap

**AN: Here you go, Fiyeraba! :D**

* * *

**Chapter 7. Hearts leap**

Fiyero was trapped. In a library. All night long.

With Elphaba.

Honestly, he could think of worse ways to spend his time. Like… being trapped in a library all night long _without _Elphaba.

Elphaba herself, however, wasn't taking this as well as he was.

'I don't believe this!' She went back to the corner they had been in and let herself fall back onto the couch, covering her face with her arm. 'I fell asleep,' she said, her voice muffled. 'I never fall asleep studying. How did this happen?'

'You were probably just tired.' Fiyero looked out the window. 'It happens to everyone sometimes, you know. It's nothing to feel ashamed of.'

She moaned softly. 'But we won't be able to get out of here until morning!'

Now he moved to sit at the other end of the couch, near her feet. 'Well, at least you're not alone,' he offered, and for a moment, he thought she would get mad at him and blame him for falling asleep as well. Then she seemed to deflate and she cracked a small smile. 'You're right,' she admitted, much to his surprise. 'I'm glad I'm not alone.' She squeezed his hand, earning herself a beaming smile from him.

They sat in silence for a while, neither of them saying anything. 'You know?' he said jokingly. 'This is actually a little like Seven Minutes in Heaven.'

She glared at him.

'You and me, in a dark room, _alone_-'

'I get the picture, thank you,' she snapped, and he fell silent. Then he started again. 'Only this time, we have much longer than seven minutes. We've got seven _hours _now.'

'Eight,' she corrected him curtly. 'The library doesn't open until eight.'

He winked at her. 'Even better.'

She instantly closed up again – he could just _see _her shutting him out, and he realised that the gut feeling he'd had all this time about Elphaba was right. She seemed to like him well enough when he was being himself – his _real _self, the side he rarely ever showed anyone else – but Oz forbid he showed her the scandalacious prince side of him. Then she would push him away and snap at him like she had done in the beginning.

'Look, I'm sorry,' he said, and she huffed. 'No, seriously. I was just trying to break the silence, but it was a bad joke. I'm sorry.'

She sighed. 'You're forgiven.'

Again, silence. It was making him uncomfortable.

Then she asked softly, 'Fiyero?'

He yawned and stretched. 'Yeah?'

'Why did you break up with Galinda? For real?'

He shrugged. 'Like I said. I didn't love her. I care about her, Fae, I really do, just… more in a brother-sister kind of way. And she deserves better than that. She deserves a boy who really does love her the way she wanted me to.'

Elphaba rose to her feet and walked over to a bookshelf, tracing her fingers down the back of a book thoughtfully. 'That's… considerate of you,' she had to admit. 'And mature. You're right, you shouldn't stay with someone if you don't really love them.' She was quiet again. 'I shouldn't have avoided you.'

'Galinda is your best friend, and you thought I had hurt her. I understand.'

Suddenly, there was a rumbling sound and Elphaba stiffened. 'What's that?'

Fiyero glanced at the window. 'A storm, I think.'

Dark clouds moved to withdraw the moon and the stars from sight, making it suddenly very dark in the library. It was almost pitch black, so dark that Fiyero could barely even distinguish his own hand in front of his face; then lightning lit up the room, and Elphaba let out a soft and very un-Elphaba-like squeak.

The room darkened again, and her voice broke the silence, soft and slightly quivery. 'Fiyero?'

He tried to see through the inky darkness, but he couldn't locate her in the blackness. 'Right here.'

'I can't see you.'

'You can't see anything in here.' He blindly rose to his feet and started making his way over to where she had been standing. 'I'm coming towards you.'

Her voice sounded smaller than usual as she said, 'Okay.'

He bumped into a bookshelf, nearly tripped over a loose corner of carpet, then found the fabric of her dress and followed it until he could wrap his arm around her waist. 'Got you.'

She was shaking a little, and she jumped when he asked, 'Fae? Are you okay?'

'Fine,' she muttered, but it wasn't convincing; and when lightning lit up the room again, he could see that she was pale and looking terrified. Thunder rumbled outside, making her yelp, and his grip on her waist tightened. 'Fae,' he said sternly. 'I'm your friend. You can tell me what's wrong.'

She was silent for a while. Then she confessed in a whisper, 'I'm afraid of thunderstorms.'

He was completely startled. '_What_?'

'You heard me,' she snapped, and he blinked. 'I did… I'm sorry. It's just that… well… honestly, I didn't think you were afraid of _anything_,' he admitted, knowing she would scoff at that even before he heard her actually making the sound.

'Galinda never mentioned such a thing.'

'She doesn't know,' Elphaba whispered. 'I can handle it, usually. I… I don't really want people to know,' she said quietly. 'So when I'm with Galinda, I just bury myself under the blankets until it's over. And besides, that girl sleeps like a rock. She wouldn't wake up if I were screaming my lungs out.'

He chuckled softly. Then he started rubbing her arm. 'It's okay to be scared, you know.'

'I hate being scared,' she muttered, and he shrugged lightly. 'Who doesn't? But it's okay, Fae. Come on, let's get back to that couch – I bet it's more comfortable than the bookshelves.'

Another rumble of thunder. Immediately, her grip on him tightened almost painfully. He wrapped his arm tighter around her waist and pulled her to his side. 'Do you trust me?'

He felt her hesitate, but then he felt her nod. She made a little sound in the back of her throat and he squeezed her comfortingly. He started moving forward, keeping her close behind him. 'Watch out here,' he warned. 'The carpet is loose. Just step over it… do you feel it?'

'Yes,' she said, and he kept on blindly making his way back to the couch, warning her about bookshelves and furniture that was in the way.

'Here we are,' he said, and she couldn't help but heave a sigh with relief. 'Come on, let me help you.' He carefully helped her to sit down on the couch, then sat down next to her, her hand still in his. Lightning lit up the room briefly, and she cringed. 'You okay?'

She let out a soft breath and dropped her head against his shoulder. 'Yeah. Thanks.'

He smiled, though she couldn't see that in the dark. 'You're welcome.'

* * *

'So… afraid of storms, huh?'

He just _knew _she was blushing, even though it was pitch black in here. 'Shut up.'

He decided the best way to get _her _to open up would be to open up to her himself. 'I'm afraid of spiders.'

She snorted a laugh and he pulled away, offended. 'What?'

'Oh, Fiyero,' she chuckled. 'It's really nice of you that you're trying to make me feel better, but couldn't you at least have picked something more convincing? Like, I don't know… fire? Make-up? An angry Galinda? Commitment?'

'Those are all pretty scary,' he admitted, but then he realised what she had implied. 'Hey! Are you saying that you don't believe me?'

He felt her hand on his arm. 'Like I said, Fiyero, I appreciate the effort,' she told him. 'But you don't have to lie to make me feel better.'

He jerked his arm away from her touch and inched towards the other end of the couch, feeling genuinely insulted. Here he was, telling her his biggest fear – and his most embarrassing one at that – and she just laughed at him. She didn't even believe him.

'Fiyero?'

He didn't say anything.

The thunder roared, and her voice rose in pitch. 'Fiyero, please come back,' she almost begged. He could tell that she was scared, and he suddenly felt guilty for leaving her alone and not even responding to her when he knew that she was afraid, even if it was for the sake of his bruised ego. 'I'm over here.'

He could hear her soft sigh of relief. 'What's wrong?' she asked softly, and he huffed. 'Nothing.'

'Fiyero?' She moved closer to him and he started a little when he suddenly felt her hand on his arm again. 'What's wrong?'

'Nothing,' he said again, and she scoffed. 'Like hell. What happened to 'I'm your friend, you can tell me'?'

He hesitated, then gave in. 'You laughed at me,' he said. She could distinctly hear the hurt in his voice, and she sucked in her breath. 'Oh, Fiyero… you weren't joking?'

He made a non-committing sound, but she seemed completely baffled. 'Fiyero Tiggular, the scandalacious playboy prince, is afraid of _spiders_?!'

He mimicked her. 'Elphaba Thropp, the almighty sarcastic green girl, is afraid of _storms_? Everyone is afraid of _something_, Fae.'

He could almost _feel _her smile. 'Well,' she said finally. 'I know this sounds kind of mean, but… that actually does make me feel better.'

'And why is that?'

She chuckled softly. 'Suddenly my fear doesn't seem so ridiculous anymore.'

Despite himself, he had to laugh at that; and before they knew it, they were both rolling over with laughter. He wasn't even sure what was so funny, but he didn't really care, either.

She fell against him, and he couldn't help but run his hand down her bare arm. Her skin was so smooth… Everything about her just made him want to kiss her. Even when he couldn't see her, her scent and the feel of her were enough to drive him completely crazy.

_And why not? _he suddenly reasoned. _Galinda and I broke up. She asked me to give her some time, but it's been over a week now, and she's already swooning over that boy in her Life Sciences class… so what's keeping me from making a move towards Elphaba?_

Their laughter died away, but he continued stroking her arm softly. She shivered a little and he asked, 'Are you cold?'

She nodded. 'I guess they turned off the heat as well,' she said, and he wrapped his arm around her and started rubbing both her upper arms, trying to get her warm. 'Better?'

'Yeah.' She leaned into him and he gasped when he suddenly felt something cold in his neck. 'Oz, Fae, is that your _nose_? Do you have a popsicle for a nose, or something?'

'My nose is cold,' she murmured in protest, and he chuckled. 'Yeah, I noticed.'

'You're warm. How can you still be warm? It's freezing in here.'

He shrugged lightly, secretly enjoying the feeling of having her so close. 'I'm a guy. Isn't it a general rule that guys are always warm and girl are always cold?'

She mumbled something, and he added smugly, 'Besides, even when I'm freezing, I'm still smoking hot.'

She pinched his arm and he gasped. '_Ouch_!'

'Fiyero Tiggular, that was the lamest joke I have _ever _heard.'

'Well, I'm sorry,' he muttered indignantly, and she shook her head. 'How can it be that you can be so kind and easy to talk to when you want to be, and then the next minute you're the cockiest person in all of Shiz?'

He sighed. 'I've been dancing through life for years, Fae. I'm trying to stop it, I really am, but I can't help but relapse into my old behaviour sometimes. I'm sorry.'

He felt her smile and he leaned towards her, nuzzling her cheek, which was just as soft as the rest of her. 'Fae?'

Her voice was a bit breathless. 'Yeah?'

He couldn't see what he was doing or where she was, but he managed to catch her chin, then cup her face with one hand, turning it towards him. 'Do you want to know the real reason why Galinda and I broke up?' he breathed.

She shifted a little, uncomfortable. 'What you told me before wasn't the real reason?'

'It was part of it,' he admitted quietly. 'But the most important reason…' He brushed his lips lightly along her cheek, making her gasp. 'The most important reason was that I was – I _am _– in love with someone else.'

Before she could respond to that and ruin the moment, his lips found hers in a soft, gentle kiss.


	8. Chapter 8 He loves her so

**AN: Hi guys! Once more, sorry for the wait, but my exams are over now! *happy Galinda-like dance* I totally aced my Statistics exam, which I was very happy about, because Statistics is definitely _not _my forte. I don't think my other exam went all that well, but we'll see. There's always the resit in November, though I hope that won't be necessary.**

**Anywho...**

**Vinkunwildflowerqueen, I love that rule :).**

**Watercolor: You're dead. *sends Frex Hunters after you, then cackles maniacally as they catch and kill you* Mwahahaha.**

**I'm glad you all liked Yero's confession :).**

**I've been watching Wicked videos on YouTube all day. I'm just too excited about next month! *squeals* Only 30 more days! (And in the meantime, I'm going to the Hunger Games marathon in the cinema with my friends!)**

* * *

**Chapter 8. He loves her so**

When he pulled away, she was completely frozen – and not just because she was cold.

He didn't let her go, though; merely rested his forehead against her temple, keeping her close to him, as he breathed, 'I've been wanting to do that since forever.'

Her own breathing came in soft, shallow gasps, to the point where he was starting to wonder if she was okay. 'Fae?'

Suddenly, a loud clap of thunder came from outside, rattling the windows in their sills; and with a frightened yelp, Elphaba suddenly jumped towards him, only to pretty much land in his lap.

He chuckled. 'Well, there's no need for you to throw yourself at me,' he teased, and in the flash of lightning that followed, he could see her deep purple blush. 'Shut up.'

He laughed and his arms went around her again, pulling her close. Immediately, she tensed up. 'Fiyero?'

He nuzzled her hair, then pressed his cheek against it. 'Mm?'

'What… what are you doing?'

He chuckled. 'Isn't that obvious?' He kissed the top of her head, then her forehead, then skated his lips down her cheek and jaw. 'I'm kissing you.'

'I figured that out, thank you very much.' She was still tense, but he felt her relax a little as he continued to kiss her. 'But why?'

'Because,' he said, moving his lips to brush the shell of her ear as he whispered, 'because I'm in love with you.'

She let out a nervous laugh. 'What? Have you hit your head against a bookshelf, or something?'

He pulled away to look at her, even though he could barely distinguish her in the darkness. 'Elphaba, why is it so hard for you to understand that someone could love you?' he asked her seriously, and she scoffed. 'You mean, besides the obvious reasons?'

He quirked an eyebrow at her, then remembered that she couldn't see him. 'Fae…'

He just _knew _she was rolling her eyes right now. 'Green, sarcastic, awkward, weird, geeky, ugly…'

He cut her off with another kiss, startling her. 'Stop,' he said as they broke apart. 'Stop it right now. I can't listen to you talking about yourself like that.'

She sighed. 'Fiyero…'

'No. I won't hear any of it.' He wrapped her back into his arms and breathed in the sweet scent of her hair. He should really ask her sometime what shampoo she used. 'Elphaba, you're not any of those things.'

He could hear the smile in her voice. 'One of the things I mentioned was 'green'.'

He chuckled. 'Okay, I can hardly deny that you're green,' he conceded, 'but you're not any of those _other _things. Not like you describe them, anyway. Sure, you're sarcastic, but that's not a bad thing. I love your sarcasm. You're not geeky, you're just smart, and what's wrong with that? And why in Oz would you call yourself awkward and weird?'

She shrugged. 'I don't fit in. I have crazy magical powers. I'm green. Do I need to go on?' she asked sarcastically.

He started undoing the braid she had restrained her hair in until the ebony waves flowed down over her shoulders and he could run his fingers through them. She suppressed a shiver.

'Your magical powers make you mysterious,' he mumbled. 'The fact that you don't fit in just proves that you're your own person and you don't care about shallow things like being popular and being liked by other people, which I think is incredibly brave and amazing. And your skin…' He ran one hand down her arm again, the other still tangled in her hair. 'Your skin is beautiful.'

She scoffed. 'Dream on, Fiyero.'

'Don't do that.' He softly kissed her again, melting her instantly. 'It is. _You _are beautiful, Fae. Perhaps not in the traditional way, not in the typical Galinda-way… but you _are _beautiful.'

She bit her lip, not convinced, but he just kept on kissing her until her resolve crumbled and he felt her body relax against his. He moved them so that they were lying side by side on the couch, facing one another.

'So…' she said after a while, a wicked grin spreading across her face. 'Spiders.'

He cringed. 'Don't laugh at me.'

She did laugh, but then she kissed his nose, blushing slightly – she just couldn't get used to the feeling that she could actually do that now. 'I'm not,' she promised him. 'It's just… spiders? Really?'

She felt him shudder. 'They're just so… creepy,' he said defensively. 'I mean, they have eight legs. What in Oz has eight legs? And they have eight eyes, which I think is even creepier. They crawl around with those creepy legs, watching you with those creepy eyes…'

She chuckled. 'Well, it's not an _uncommon _fear. You should hear Galinda's screaming whenever there's one in our room,' she joked. 'But I hadn't expected it of _you_.'

'Yes, well, like I said, I hadn't expected you to be afraid of storms, either,' he said, stroking her hair away from her face. 'But I kind of like it.'

He could hear the sarcasm in her voice. 'You like me being afraid of something?'

'Yeah,' he said, smiling. 'You always seem so fearless, so unreachable. You being afraid somehow makes you more… real, or something. And… and that you told me… it means you opened up to me. I like that,' he confessed, and she smiled, too, and rested her forehead against his.

'So Galinda's afraid of spiders as well?' Fiyero asked after a while. 'Figures.'

Elphaba grinned. 'I usually pick them up and dangle them in front of her face.'

She felt Fiyero shudder. 'If you try that…' he warned her, and she shook her head. 'I would never do that,' she promised him. 'I mean, we all know that Galinda is just being dramatic when she screams about an eight-legged monster in the bathroom, and that's why I like teasing her. But to do such a thing to someone who truly is afraid of spiders? That would be cruel. It would be like putting me out in a thunderstorm by myself.'

He smiled. 'I'm glad you wouldn't do such a thing. And I'm also glad that at least _you're _not afraid of them,' he murmured, playing with her hair, and she nuzzled his cheek. 'Why?'

She felt him smile. 'Because,' he said. 'There's quite a lot of spiders back home in the Vinkus, and once we're living together, I won't have to call my Dad to remove them anymore.'

Her shock was almost tangible. '_Living together_?' she nearly screeched, sitting up instantly.

He cringed. He should _not _have said that. He knew how jumpy Elphaba was, and this was probably just the perfect way to chase her away from him again. Great.

He sat up, too. 'I'm sorry. That slipped out… I didn't mean… I mean, I _did _mean that, but… um…' He nervously ran his fingers through his hair. 'Forget I said that.'

He already knew she wouldn't, though, and he was right. 'Fiyero…'

'I'm sorry,' he sighed. 'I didn't mean to drop that on you like this. I didn't think.'

'As usual,' she muttered under her breath, unable to help herself, which he decided to take as a good sign. 'No, really, I'm sorry,' he said again. His fingers found hers and he clasped her hands in his. 'But only for telling you like this,' he continued, figuring the damage was done now and he might as well tell her all of it. 'Because I _do _mean it. Fae, I… I never felt this way about anyone before,' he admitted. 'I think… I think I love you. And I know that this is a little strange, since it's not even been an hour ago since I kissed you for the first time…'

She chuckled softly.

'…but I have been in love with you for far longer than that,' he continued. 'I _hoped _we would get together, and it's just that once we did… just now… all these scenarios flashed through my head. And… and I realised that this is different. _You _are different. And not in the ways you think,' he added sternly, knowing what she was about to say.

He squeezed her hands. 'My point is, Fae… I don't want to hurt you, and now that I have you, I realised that I don't want to let you go ever again. This isn't part of me dancing through life and it's not just a short-term thing for me. You and me… I can see us having a future together.'

She stayed awfully quiet for some time, up until the point where he nervously asked if she was still there, even though she hadn't moved at all. She replied with a soft, 'Yes,' but when she didn't say anything else after that, he sighed, defeated. 'I blew it, didn't I? I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said any of those things.' He blinked furiously to keep stupid tears from properly forming in his eyes. 'If it weren't for the fact that we're locked in, you'd probably run away from me right now.'

He felt her gentle sigh as much as he heard it. 'Yero…' He couldn't help the way his heart started doing somersaults when he heard her say that. She'd only called him that a few times since they had become friends, but he loved it.

'Mere hours ago, I still believed that there was not a chance in the world that you could ever like me as more than a friend,' she whispered. 'And now… you're right, this is just a bit… um… sudden.'

That was the understatement of the year, of course, but he didn't comment on it. 'You really thought that?' he asked instead. 'That I could never love you?' Suddenly a thought dawned on him. 'Wait a clock-tick. Did you love me, too?'

He could almost _feel _her blush. 'Ever since the Lion Cub.'

Her voice had been almost inaudible, but he heard her anyway, and a goofy grin spread across his face. 'Really?'

She nodded. 'Fiyero, I just… I need to think about this.'

He kissed the top of her head. 'Of course. I really am sorry for dropping it on you so suddenly. Take all the time you need to think about it.'

She kissed his cheek in reply. 'Thank you.'

He gently urged her to lie back down again in the position they had been in before. Another strike of thunder roared outside, and she winced involuntarily. Immediately, his arms went around her and he pulled her close, allowing her to hide away from the world and bury her face in his chest. He softly rubbed her back, keeping her as close to him as he possibly could without crushing her. 'Why don't you try and get some sleep?' he suggested softly. 'We won't be able to get out of here, anyway, and it's going to be a very long night otherwise.'

She shuddered. 'I don't want to sleep,' she said in a small voice. 'I'm scared, Fiyero.' Somehow, the darkness, combined with his earlier confession, made that easier for her to admit.

Thankfully, he didn't laugh at her, just softly kissed the top of her head, running his fingers through her long hair. 'I'm right here, Fae,' he whispered. 'You can go to sleep, I'll be right here. You're safe with me.'

She was still trembling a little, but she calmed down, and he just continued to hold her, softly kissing her and whispering to her and stroking her back, until she slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

When Fiyero awoke, early the next morning, and became aware of Elphaba's soft and warm weight against his chest, he couldn't help the broad grin that spread across his face. Part of him had feared that it had only been a dream, but here they were, in the library… and she was his girlfriend now.

Or, well, he hoped she still wanted to be, after he had blurted out everything on his mind last night.

He opened his eyes and just contented himself watching her for a moment. He cast a glance in the direction of the window; the storm had passed and the sky in the west was coloured a pinkish blue.

Elphaba yawned and slowly stretched next to him, and he had to restrain himself to not kiss her senseless right there and then. Her eyes opened and she blinked at him for a moment before he saw realisation dawning on her, and she shot up. 'What… I mean, where… Did we…'

He chuckled and stroked her cheek. 'That's a lot of words this early in the morning.'

She scowled at him. 'Of course you would prefer no words at all this early in the morning?' she assumed, and he grinned at her. 'You said it, not me.' He leaned in closer for a kiss.

She backed away from him. 'Don't do that!' she protested. 'I've been sleeping in a library all night! I need to shower, and I probably have morning breath, and-'

His lips were on hers before she could even finish speaking, and at that feeling, she couldn't even remember what she had been wanting to say. When he finally pulled away, she just blinked at him again, dazed, and he chuckled. 'There you go. Elphaba Thropp, finally struck speechless. I must say, I quite like it.'

'Fiyero…'

'We still have…' He peered at the clock on the wall. '…two-and-a-half hours left before we're free. And at least until then, I don't want to hear any kind of protest from you. And you're not allowed to think, because if you do, you'll _over_think, and that will only lead to the protests I just said you weren't allowed to voice, so in the end that would all lead to nothing.'

She stared at him. 'I thought you said no words this early in the morning,' she complained, her brain still a bit foggy from lack of sleep – a couch in the library wasn't exactly comfortable, even if that couch happened to have Fiyero on it.

Fiyero just grinned at her again. 'You know what? You're right.' And with that, he kissed her again.

It took her foggy brain a few moments to properly wake up and remember everything that had happened, and when it finally did, she started wondering what in Oz was going on. This couldn't all possibly be real… could it? It was probably a dream… or maybe it _was _real, but Fiyero was just acting this way because he really had hit his head, or he was sick, or delusional, or…

'You're thinking, aren't you?' he murmured glumly against her lips, and she smiled despite herself. 'Well, I'm sorry if we're not _all _brainless.'

'Ouch,' he teased her, pinning her down beneath him again. 'That's not very nice of you, Miss Thropp.'

'Who in Oz ever said I was nice?' she said sarcastically. He shook his head with a smile. 'You know?' he said, grinning at her. 'You are probably the only girl in Oz who can genuinely make such a question sound self-deprecating instead of sexual.'

She averted her eyes. 'Yes, well, if you wanted a sensual, teasing sex bomb, you should have asked Pfannee. Or Shenshen. Or pretty much any other girl here on campus, really.'

'Mm.' He leaned down to rub his nose against hers, looking into her eyes. 'Good thing that I don't want that, then.'

'Really?' she asked worriedly, and he pulled away with a sigh. 'I thought we agreed to postpone this conversation until after we get out of here,' he complained.

She sniggered. 'No, I think you _told _me that was what was going to happen, but I don't recall ever _agreeing_.'

He thought about that for a moment. 'Now that you mention it, you're right. But still. Please, Elphie?' He made googly eyes at her. 'Pretty pretty please?'

'Did Galinda teach you that?'

He grinned down at her. 'Maybe.'

Elphaba groaned. 'She _knows _I can't say no to that look.'

'Which is exactly why I asked her to teach me.' He made his eyes look even bigger. 'Pwetty pwease?' he said in an imitation of Galinda.

She shoved him, causing him to lose his balance and topple down onto the floor. She leaned down from the couch to look at him, unable to keep a smirk off her face. 'I have one condition.'

'Anything,' he said from his spot on the floor, and she wiggled her finger in his face. 'Never, _ever_, call me Elphie _ever _again.'

His smile lit up his entire face. 'Deal.'


	9. Chapter 9 Freedom

**AN: As you know, your wish is my command, so here is an update! That makes six new posts and updates in one day... one night, actually. I just broke my own record. (I'm taking this as an opportunity to promote myself: I posted a very sad Fiyeraba oneshot called Happy Ending, a funny little companion piece/sequel to You're Still The One called Daddy's Little Girl, and I posted the new Frex Hunters fic, too. Feel free to check them out and maybe review? *bats eyes*)**

**No more fluff for now... I mean, come on - we all know that Elphie wouldn't just go like, 'Oh, yeah, love you too, let's get together and I'll come to the Vinkus with you and we'll have babies and live happily ever after!' **

* * *

**Chapter 9. Freedom**

The face of the librarian when he opened the door to the library, only to find two students inside, was priceless. He gaped at them. 'What… How… How did you two get in here?'

'Freedom!' Fiyero cried, pushing past the librarian and dramatically falling down onto his knees to kiss the floor. The librarian's mouth opened even wider and Elphaba quirked an eyebrow. 'Was being locked up with me really all that bad?' she asked in exasperation.

Fiyero grinned at her and rose to his feet to pull her towards him. 'Of course not. It's just that I've been breathing in _library _air all night.' He waved cheerfully at the librarian. 'Bye.' Then he linked his arm with Elphaba's and pulled her with him, leaving the poor man standing there with his mouth wide open.

'So, what's next?' he asked, casually slipping his arm around her waist. 'Breakfast?'

She squirmed a bit uncomfortably. 'Fiyero… I really think we should talk first,' she said softly.

He sighed and his shoulders slumped. 'Yeah. I figured as much. But I could try, right?'

She smirked. Then she quickly grew serious again. 'I think the first thing I should do, though, is see Galinda,' she muttered. 'Before the girl gives herself a heart attack.'

Fiyero chuckled. 'Good luck with that. I think it's already too late.'

He turned out to be right, for when the two of them reached Elphaba and Galinda's dorm room and knocked on the door, it was opened by a very anxious and, upon seeing them, very angry blonde.

'Elphaba Melena Thropp!' she screeched, effectively waking up the entire building. 'Where in Oz have you been?!'

'The library?' Elphaba tried, and Galinda grabbed her and pulled her inside. She pushed her friend back onto the bed and glared at her. 'Explain.'

'I fell asleep studying,' Elphaba said warily. 'We were locked up in the library all night.'

Immediately, Galinda's eyes started shining. 'Ooh. We? As in, Fiyero and you?' She started bouncing. 'While there was a _storm _outside?' She squealed. 'That is so romantic!'

Fiyero, meanwhile, tried to sneak away, but Galinda already pounced on him and dragged him back into the room. 'So, did something happen?' she asked eagerly, wiggling her eyebrows. 'Hmmmm?'

'No!' Elphaba protested, while at the same time, Fiyero said with a grin, 'Kind of.'

The green girl shot him a glare, but he didn't seem impressed. 'We can tell her, Fae. It's not like she didn't know already.'

Now it was Elphaba's turn to gape. 'What?'

'Fifi told me when we broke up,' Galinda said cheerfully. 'That he was in love with you. So what happened? Did you two kiss?' She pursed her lips and made kissing noises, causing Elphaba to shove her blonde friend off the bed.

Galinda poked her head up from behind it. 'No, I'm serious!' she said, pouting. 'Tell me!'

Elphaba looked at Fiyero. Fiyero grinned back at her. She rolled her eyes. 'Okay,' she sighed, giving in. 'We… might have kissed.'

'Multiple times,' Fiyero added unnecessarily, earning himself another glare from the green girl and another squeal from the blonde one. 'Ooh! Did you two sleep together?'

Elphaba said in a horrified voice, 'No!' while at the same time, Fiyero said, 'Yes.'

The dark-haired witch turned around to gape at the prince. '_What_?'

Fiyero suddenly realised his mistake and went beet red. 'Not like that!' he cried. 'I didn't mean that! I meant it in the literal sense! As in, she fell asleep, and I fell asleep, and we happened to be lying on a couch together, so technically we slept together, but we didn't _sleep _sleep together!'

Elphaba narrowed her eyes at him. Galinda was suppressing laughter.

Fiyero slumped down in a chair. 'I'm just going to keep my mouth shut,' he muttered, and Elphaba patted his head as if he were a dog. 'Wise decision.'

Galinda giggled. 'So are you two together now?' she gushed.

Fiyero hesitated and looked at Elphaba. Elphaba swallowed and stared at the floor.

Galinda quirked an eyebrow. 'I see.'

'What do you think, Glin?' Elphaba asked her friend softly. Immediately, the blonde started beaming. 'Do you really need to ask?' she asked pointedly. 'Elphie, you and Fiyero being together would be totally amazifying. Ooh! You two could double-date with cute Life Sciences boy and me!'

'Cute Life Sciences boy?' Elphaba echoed. 'You don't even know his name yet?'

Galinda tossed her hair. 'No,' she said. 'But who cares? He's cute.'

'Have you ever even _talked _to the guy?' Fiyero asked with a grin, and the blonde faltered. 'No,' she admitted gruffly. 'But like I said, he's cute. And I'm Galinda Upland of the Upper Uplands. Of course he'll say yes if I ask him to double date with you and Elphie.'

'Glin, we're not together…' Elphaba started, but Galinda cut her off. 'Sure you are! You _have _to be! You're too perfect together to not be together! Elphie, please?' She made googly eyes at her friend. 'For me?'

Elphaba sniggered. 'For _you_?'

'Well, and for yourself,' Galinda added quickly. 'I mean, you do love him, don't you, Elphie? Or you _like_ him, at the very least. Don't you? Don't you?' She was bouncing again, and Fiyero started imitating her, bouncing on his chair and squealing, 'You like me, Elphie, don't you? Don't you?'

Elphaba clamped her hands over her ears. 'Why did I ever befriend either of you?'

'Because you love us!' Galinda said with a grin, still bouncing. 'Aw, come on, Elphie. Just give in already!' Her face brightened. 'Ooh. Isn't there a dance at the OzDust next week?'

'No!' Elphaba cried, but now that the idea had popped into Galinda's head, the blonde wouldn't let go of it again. 'Elphie, that would be so amazifying! I can give you a makeover and we could go shopping, and then Fiyero will faint when he sees you and then you dance all night and make eyes at one another and _kiss_,' she made kissing sounds again, 'and I get to watch from a distance and cheer at you and gush about how cute you look together while I'm dancing with cute Life Sciences boy! It's perfectified!'

'Can we just go to class now?' Elphaba begged. 'Please?'

Fiyero's face fell. 'I thought we were going to talk!' he whined, and she stared at him. 'We're not skipping class!'

Fiyero grumbled. Galinda pouted. Elphaba threw her hands up and strode across the room to pack her things.

'Elphie!' Galinda said pleadingly, and the green girl whirled around. 'Stop it!' she snapped. 'Both of you! You're driving me crazy! _You_,' she pointed at Galinda, 'stop your whining. At the very least until Fiyero and I are _actually _together – if that's ever going to happen at all. And _you_,' she turned to face Fiyero, 'I need you to leave me alone. I have to think about this, and I can't do that when you're constantly following me around with those big puppy eyes, begging me for an answer!'

They both looked at her sheepishly.

'We'll talk after class,' Elphaba told Fiyero. With that, she strode out of the room.

* * *

Fiyero spent the entire lesson staring at Elphaba, trying to get her to look back at him, but she refused to pay any attention to him at all. He'd wanted to sit next to her, but she had chosen a seat next to her sister in the front row, leaving no room for him to sit with her, and so he had to settle for a spot two rows behind her. Galinda was sitting next to him, but she wasn't paying any attention to the prince, either; she just kept on ogling 'cute Life Sciences boy'.

After class, Elphaba was gone before he could even blink. He tried looking for her, but she was nowhere to be found. The same thing happened the next day. And the day afterwards. He tried to tell himself that she just needed some time to think, but he knew that wasn't all of it. If she just needed to think, she didn't have to avoid him.

Finally, he begged Galinda to talk to her roommate, and she promised him she would.

'Elphie?' she asked that night, when the girls were getting ready for bed.

Elphaba crawled under the blankets and shut off the light on her bedside table. 'Yes?'

'Why are you avoiding Fiyero?'

'I'm not,' Elphaba said automatically.

Galinda scoffed. 'Um, _yeah_, you are,' she said pointedly. 'You don't want to talk to him, do you? Why not? What are you afraid of?'

'I'm not afraid!'

'Then why don't you talk to him?'

'Because…' Elphaba sighed and gave in. 'Because I don't want to hurt him,' she said quietly.

Galinda's face fell. She climbed over her own bed and plopped down onto Elphaba's. 'Elphie…'

Elphaba turned her back towards her roommate, but Galinda simply got up, bounced to the other side of the bed, and perched on the edge again. 'Are you saying you don't want to be with him?' she asked her friend gently.

Elphaba sighed irritably. 'You're not going to let this go, are you?' she asked in exasperation, and Galinda shook her head cheerfully.

'Nope.'

The green girl sighed. 'Look, Glin, this is really none of your business-'

'Don't give me that.' Galinda shook her head wildly, sending her blonde curls flying. 'You're scared, aren't you?'

Elphaba gave her a sharp look. 'Of what?'

'That he might really love you.'

The look of shock on Elphaba's face would have made Galinda giggle, had she not been in the middle of a rather serious conversation. 'Fiyero told me,' she said. 'What he said to you. About living together, and stuff.'

Elphaba scoffed. 'So?'

'_So_,' Galinda said, pushing Elphaba over so she could lie down onto the bed next to her roommate, 'you're scared, because you never thought anyone would want that with you.'

Elphaba rolled her eyes. 'No, I'm not,' she insisted stubbornly. 'I mean, it's not like he's _serious_, or something.'

The blonde quirked an eyebrow. 'You think he tells every girl he dates that he wants to spend the rest of his life with her?'

Elphaba shrugged. '_You _told me you and Fiyero would be married within a day of meeting him,' she pointed out.

Galinda buried her face in a cushion and let out a frustrated shriek. 'Elphie!' she whined. 'That was nothing like this! I _always _say things I don't mean, you should know that by now!'

'So does Fiyero.'

'Not like this!' Galinda stared at Elphaba imploringly. 'Elphie, you know better,' she said. 'Fiyero is – or was, I suppose – foolish and impulsive and irresponsible and a bit brainless at times, but he's not cruel. He would _never _tell a girl he loves her, or he wants to marry her or live with her, if he doesn't mean it. I'm sure of that. Oz knows he never told _me _any of those things, and we've been dating for two months!'

Elphaba kept quiet. In her heart, she knew that Galinda was right, but she wasn't relieved upon realising that. Quite the contrary.

Unfortunately, over the past months since they had become friends, Galinda had developed the rather annoying ability to read Elphaba's mind. 'And that's exactly what scares you,' she now declared smugly. 'The fact that he might be serious is freaking you out, because you never expected him to. I get that, Elphie. I may be blonde and pretty and popular, but I know you, and I know that you think of yourself as ugly, because of your skin, and you think that no one could love you, and so it scares you that _he _might. Just admit it already and then we can move past it and start working on getting you two together for real!'

Elphaba abruptly shoved the blonde off her bed, making her squeak with indignation. 'I'm not admitting anything,' Elphaba snapped at her friend. 'Goodnight, Galinda.' With that, she turned off the lights.

Galinda huffed. 'Don't think you can get rid of me that easily, Thropp,' she grunted. 'I will make sure that you and Fiyero get together, and that you'll be _happy_, Oz dammit, or I will die trying!'


	10. Chapter 10 When you talk to boys

**AN: No, no fluffy Fiyeraba yet. Elphaba is _not _going to give up without a fight.**

**Sorry for the long delay, but here's the next chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 10. When you talk to boys**

When Fiyero entered the library and located Elphaba in her favourite spot – the corner they'd been studying in when they had been trapped a week prior – his face brightened. 'Fae!'

She didn't even look up, just pointed at her book. 'I'm studying.'

He sighed, sitting down next to her. 'Can we just talk?'

'No.'

'Just for a minute.'

'I said no.'

'Please?'

She slammed her book shoot. 'What about 'no' don't you understand?' she snapped at him, before rising to her feet and walking out of the library with large, angry strides.

Quite frankly, Fiyero was stunned. 'Fae, what in Oz…' he started, but she just kept walking.

Of course, he wasn't going to let her off the hook that easily. He ran after her, catching up with her and walking in front of her, facing her. 'Fae, you're being ridiculous.'

She glared at him.

'I just want to talk,' he said. 'I'm not going to bite you, or pounce on you, or rape you, or something. Just talking.'

'Get lost, Fiyero.'

Now he was starting to get angry. He grabbed her arms, forcing her to stop walking. '_Talk to me_,' he said through clenched teeth.

She brought her face closer to his. For a moment, he thought she was going to kiss him, but then she spat, '_No_,' shoved him aside with her shoulder, and walked away.

Nessa wheeled up towards her sister. 'Fabala?'

Elphaba's face immediately softened upon seeing her younger sister. 'Hi, Nessie,' she said gently. 'How are you doing?'

'I'm fine,' Nessa assured her. 'I just wanted to talk to you.'

Elphaba groaned. 'Why does everyone want to talk to me these days?' she grumbled, and Nessa laughed softly. 'Fabala, Galinda told me about you and Fiyero.'

Elphaba's cheeks darkened. Galinda had done _what_? She made a mental note to strangle her blonde friend later.

'And I just wanted to tell you that I think she is right,' Nessa continued. 'I think you two would be cute together. And I think it's great that he is already talking about you two living together –'

'Galinda told you _that, _too?' Elphaba interrupted her sister, fuming now. Nessa, however, just looked back calmly.

'Elphaba,' she said. 'I know you're in love with Fiyero.'

Elphaba gaped at her sister.

'It's pretty clear from the way you look at him,' Nessa said, sounding just a little smug. 'And the fact that you, the ever unfaltering Elphaba Thropp, _blush _whenever you're around him, kind of gives you away as well.'

A dark red colour slowly crept into the green girl's cheeks.

'And I think he's really into you, too.' Nessa patted her sister's hand. 'Just give him a chance,' she advised her. 'He's kind, he's a gentleman, he's a good friend. He seems to be taking this seriously.'

Elphaba stared at her sister for a while. Then she asked her, in the coldest tone she had ever used with her younger sister, 'And what makes you think this is _any _of your business?'

Nessa turned her chair with a wounded expression on her face. 'Just think about it, Elphaba,' she said sharply. 'And if you're too much of a coward to admit that you love him back, then the very least you could do is act normally around him, instead of hurting him and pushing him away just because _you _are afraid to let him in.'

With those words, she wheeled herself away.

* * *

'Elphie!' Galinda squealed the moment the green girl stepped through the door. 'I have the most splendifericifying idea!'

Elphaba just stared at her blonde friend wearily for a moment. 'Galinda,' she said after a while.

'Yes?'

'Why do you hate the word 'splendid'?'

Galinda looked confused. 'I don't.'

'And what do you have against the words 'horrible', 'amazing' and 'perfect'?'

The blonde blinked at her. 'Nothing!'

Elphaba nodded slowly. 'Okay.' She walked over to her bed and plopped down onto it without explaining anything else to her roommate.

Galinda was still confused, but she shook it off and started beaming again. 'Don't you want to know what my idea is?'

Elphaba, now lying on her stomach with her face buried in her pillow, said in a muffled voice, 'Not really.'

Galinda jumped onto her roommate's bed, causing the green girl to wobble back and forth. 'Elphie, remember the dance I was talking about earlier?'

'No.'

The blonde fell silent. 'No, you don't remember it, or no, you already know what I'm going to ask and your answer is no?'

A muffled chuckle came from the pillow. 'The latter.'

Galinda scowled. 'Oh, come on, Elphie,' she whined. 'My idea is wonderful! You see, Elphie, you should go with Fiyero. Then you two will dance, and he'll see how beautiful you are and it's a dance, so you'll both get a little bit tipsy, and then you'll kiss again and you'll declare your undying love for each other and I get to be the maid of honour for your wedding and I'll be the godmother to your children…'

Elphaba raised her head to glare at her friend.

'Elphie, _please_,' the blonde pleaded, but Elphaba didn't budge.

'No.'

'Pretty please?'

'Leave me alone, Galinda.'

Galinda huffed and crossed her arms. She was silent for a while, and Elphaba thought she'd given up; but then she said, 'Alright, a compromise. You and me are going. Together. You don't have to go with Fiyero, but you have to go nonetheless.'

Elphaba looked at the blonde in exasperation. 'Oh, yes,' she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. 'So that the moment we arrive at the dance, you can abandon me for some handsome guy and tell Fiyero to keep me company the rest of the night?'

Galinda flushed - how did her friend know about her secret plan? 'Elphieeeeee…' she pleaded. 'Come oooon! You've been swooning over one another for, like, _forever_! And the other day when you got drunk, Fiyero was so sweet to you, and –'

'Glin?' Elphaba asked suddenly, sitting up.

Galinda stopped herself in the middle of her rant. 'Yes?'

Elphaba fidgeted with the blankets a little. 'What happened?' she asked quietly. 'That night, I mean. When we were playing Seven Minutes in Heaven. You and Fiyero were having your seven minutes together, but when you came back, you didn't look very happy. I've been wanting to ask you what happened that night.'

Galinda scrunched up her nose. 'Well…' She trailed off. 'Nothing.'

Elphaba looked at her friend. 'Glin, you can tell me –'

'No, I mean, _literally _nothing happened,' she elaborated. 'I tried to kiss him and he pushed me away. I tried to do all kinds of things, really,' she was blushing a little, 'but he didn't respond at all. He told me that I was a little drunk and he didn't want to take advantage of me, but he admitted to me later that he had realised not long before that that he was in love with you, not me, and that it didn't feel right for him to do… _stuff_… with me… when you were the one he wanted to be with.'

Elphaba flushed. 'You're making that up,' she accused her friend.

Galinda shook her head wildly, sending her curls flying around her face. 'No! I swear I'm not!' she said.

Elphaba groaned and buried her face in her pillow once more. 'What am I going to do?' she wailed.

Galinda giggled. 'Let me give you a makeover, run off to Fiyero, and kiss him?' she suggested with a glint in her eye.

Elphaba just huffed, but the blonde girl smiled to herself and started humming softly as she made her way over to the bathroom. It wasn't going as fast as she'd like, but she knew that pushing Elphaba too hard would only have the opposite effect of what she was trying to achieve, and so she was satisfied. At least her friend was making progress.

But that was where she was wrong.

* * *

'Fiyero.'

He turned around, surprised at the sound of her voice; but when he saw it was really her, a careful smile lit up his face. 'Fae.'

She sighed, her shoulders slumped. 'We need to talk,' she said, sounding as if that was the most awful thing in the world, but he was glad she said it nonetheless.

'Let's go into the courtyard,' he suggested, and she nodded listlessly.

'Fine.'

They sought out a relatively private spot near the Shiz park and sat down on a bench. 'First,' Elphaba began, looking as if she had swallowed something extremely sour, 'I think I should apologise for being rude to you for the past days.'

He could tell that she really hated having to admit that she'd been wrong, and so he stopped himself from teasing her and just smiled encouragingly. 'Thank you.'

She glared at him. 'Anyway,' she continued with a sigh. 'I… I think I need to give you an answer. It's not fair to keep you in the dark.'

When she didn't say anything after that, he prodded gingerly, 'And?'

She stared at her hands, neatly folded in her lap. 'I think we should just stay friends.'

She didn't look up. She didn't want to. His silence told her enough – if she would look up now, she would see his face, the look in his eyes, and she didn't think she could bear that.

When he finally broke the silence, his voice sounded a little strangled. 'It's… it's because of what I said, isn't it?' he croaked. 'About… living together, and all that.'

'No.' _Yes._ 'It's just that I'm not… not ready for this.'

She could hear the hope in his voice. 'So you're saying it might still happen? One day?'

'Sure,' she agreed half-heartedly, still not looking up. 'One day.'

They lapsed into a slightly uncomfortable silence that lasted for a few minutes. Then he said determinedly, 'Well, I'm not going to stop trying.'

Now she did look up.

He knelt down in front of her, taking her hands. 'I understand you're scared,' he said solemnly. 'I do. I'm scared, too. But, Fae… I know you. It's not like you to let your fears get you down. The Elphaba that I know would face her fears, and I know that that's going to happen someday. And when it does, I'll be there.'

She narrowed her eyes at him, not sure why she suddenly felt so irritated with him – perhaps because he was completely right. 'I'm not scared,' she snapped, pulling her hands away forcefully. 'You don't know me, Fiyero. You don't know me at all.'

The wounded expression on his face would have been enough to melt her instantly, had she not been so worked up already. Now, it only fuelled her anger. 'And you can wait all you want,' she spat, 'it's not going to happen. Ever!'

He frowned, getting a bit angry himself now. 'What happened to 'one day'?' he demanded.

'Maybe I was just trying to make you feel better!'

It felt as if she had slapped him. '_What _did you just say?' he asked in a low voice.

'You heard me!' she yelled. 'Just leave me alone already! I don't need you constantly following me around and telling me what to think and how to feel! I am _not_ scared, so stop telling me that I am!'

'We're only telling you that because we can _see _it, Elphaba!' he said angrily. 'Not just me – Galinda, too. We care about you, Fae, and if we see that you are scared, then we want to help you with that!'

'Well, perhaps you're only seeing what you _want _to see!'

He gaped at her. 'Excuse me?'

'Perhaps,' she hissed, 'you're just projecting your own feelings on me. Perhaps you're telling yourself that I am scared because you can't face the fact that _I just don't like you_!'

'Are you serious right now?'

'I'm always serious! If you knew me only half as well as you seem to think you do, you'd have known that!'

'If you didn't like me, you shouldn't have kissed me back in that library!'

'Maybe I just felt sorry for you!'

He stared at her, disbelief written all over his face. She knew she was crossing a line here. She knew she was driving him further away with every word that came out of her mouth. She knew she should apologise to him before it was too late.

But once her temper took over, she just found herself unable to stop.

'Just get lost already, Fiyero!' she was yelling now. 'I don't want you anywhere near me! Just leave me alone!'

'Alone,' he sneered. 'That's right. Alone. That's how you're going to end up if you go on like this!'

She paled visibly, eyes darkening with anger; and before he knew it, he found himself being thrown all across the courtyard, slamming rather painfully with his back into a tree. He fell onto the floor, gasping for breath, raising his head to stare at Elphaba incredulously.

She just turned on her heels and left.


	11. Chapter 11 Pulled from orbit

**AN: Yeah, Elphaba was mean. Poor Yero. I completely agree :). And, well, when Elphaba gets frustrated, she unleashes it on every poor soul that's unlucky enough to be nearby (as she does in the beginning of this chapter).**

**I promise you, things will be better from the next chapter onwards.**

* * *

**Chapter 11. Pulled from orbit**

'ELPHIE!' Galinda screeched as she strode towards her green friend, causing every student present at the Shiz Café to look up curiously. 'TELL ME WHAT I JUST HEARD ISN'T TRUE!'

Elphaba calmly sipped her coffee, ignoring the stares coming their way – she was used to them, anyway. 'If you're talking about a certain incident in the courtyard involving Fiyero and my magic, then I can assure you that it is true,' she said.

If looks could kill, Elphaba would be a smouldering green heap on the floor right now. 'What in _Oz _are you thinking?!' Galinda shouted. 'Have you _completely _misplaced your mind?!'

'My mind is exactly where it's supposed to be, thank you very much,' Elphaba said coldly.

Galinda placed both hands on the table and leaned forward, trying to be intimidating. Elphaba had to admit that she kind of was. Intimidating, that is. For a bouncy blonde strawberry cheesecake, anyway.

'You get out of here right now,' Galinda growled, 'and you're going to apologise to Fifi.'

Elphaba stared daggers at her friend. 'No.'

'I will not speak another word to you until you do.'

'Then I guess I'm going to have a quiet life from now on.'

Galinda narrowed her eyes, then crossed her arms and huffed. She turned away from her roommate.

Elphaba eyed her in amusement, knowing that the blonde wouldn't last for even a minute, and she turned out to be right. Galinda stayed quiet for about ten clock-ticks before she started whining again. 'Elphie!' she wailed. 'Come on!'

'I thought you said you wouldn't talk to me anymore,' Elphaba reminded her, not looking up from her Life Sciences book. She was completely startled, however, when Galinda suddenly grabbed the book and forcefully yanked it from Elphaba's hands.

'Hey! Give that back!' Elphaba protested, trying to take the book back, but Galinda kept it just out of her reach. 'Apologise to Fiyero!'

'No!'

'Elphaba Thropp, your behaviour before was absolutely unacceptable! You should be ashamed of yourself!'

'Gee,' Elphaba said sneeringly. 'Where have I heard _that_ before?'

Galinda looked confused. 'What do you mean?'

'I'm so sorry, _Father_!' Elphaba spat. 'I didn't mean to disgrace you with my _sinful _magic!'

'Don't you dare comparing me with that creep of a father of yours!' Galinda shrieked.

'Why not? You certainly _sound _just like him!'

'My problem is not your magic, my problem is _you_!' Galinda screeched.

Complete silence settled over the entire café.

Galinda clasped both hands over her mouth, horrified with herself.

Elphaba just gathered her things, looking a bit pale. 'Well,' she said in a neutral voice. 'At least you made yourself clear.'

'Elphie,' Galinda tried desperately, 'I didn't mean –'

'Yes, you did.' She turned icy cold eyes on the blonde girl. 'I'm actually surprised you lasted this long,' she said, only a slight tremble in her voice that betrayed how upset she really was. 'Normally people start thinking of me as a problem within the first five minutes of meeting me. No, scratch that – within the first two clock-ticks of even laying eyes on me.'

'Elphie, I didn't want to – '

'Never mind, Galinda.' The dark-haired girl suddenly sounded very tired. She brushed past Galinda and headed for the door. 'I'm going back to our dorm.'

Galinda bit her lip. She hadn't meant it to come out like that. She felt like kicking herself – she _knew _how everyone had treated Elphaba her entire life long, and now she had treated her pretty much the same way. Worse, even – she'd said right to her face that she thought of her as a problem. What kind of friend did such a thing? She hadn't even meant it, either – she'd just been trying to make a point…

She needed to make this right.

* * *

When she came into their shared dorm room, Elphaba was in her bed with all the lights off, pretending to be asleep, but Galinda knew better. She sat down on the edge of the bed and tentatively touched Elphaba's shoulder. 'Elphie?'

The lump under the blankets moved a little and Galinda heard something that sounded an awful lot like a sniffle, which made her feel even more guilty. 'Oh, Elphie… are you crying?'

The lump moved again. Then an indignant, choked voice, 'No. Of course not,' followed by another sniffle.

Galinda wrapped her arms around the lump. 'I'm so sorry, Elphie,' she whispered. 'I didn't mean it like that, you know that, don't you? You're my best friend, I love you, you're not a problem. Of course not. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me – you're the only real friend I've ever had. Elphie, please?'

More muffled sounds came from underneath the blanket. Galinda raised it and peered under it, only to find Elphaba there, her eyes red and puffy and her face stained with tears.

'Don't!' Elphaba buried her face in her pillow. 'I don't want you to see me like this,' she said in a muffled voice.

Galinda stroked her hair. 'You don't have to be ashamed for crying, Elphie.'

A sigh from underneath the blankets. 'I'm sorry for being mean to you.'

'No, _I _am sorry.' Galinda crawled under the blankets as well and wrapped her arms around her roommate. She rested her cheek against Elphaba's back as the green girl buried her face back into her pillow and cried quietly.

They stayed like that, huddled under the blankets together for some time, before Elphaba finally found her voice again.

'You were right,' she whispered.

Galinda raised her head. 'About what?'

'Fiyero.' Elphaba swallowed. 'But I… I can't tell him. I can't do it, Glin. I can't… be with him, or something like that.'

'Why not?' Galinda asked gently.

Elphaba shrugged. 'I just can't,' she said softly, and Galinda didn't press the issue.

'Why don't you try to get some sleep?' she suggested instead. 'You can worry about Fiyero again in the morning, but I think you could use a good night's sleep.'

Elphaba nodded and yawned. 'I guess you're right.'

Galinda got up from the bed, then turned around and hugged her roommate tightly. 'Sweet dreams, Elphie.'

'You, too.' Elphaba looked up at the blonde. 'And thank you.'

Galinda smiled. 'You're welcome, Elphie.'

* * *

The next day, Elphaba apologised to her sister as well, who accepted her apology gracefully.

'But, Elphaba,' she said pointedly, 'you do know I was right, don't you?'

'Can we not talk about this?'

'Elphaba –'

'Nessa,' the green girl cut her off firmly. 'I don't want to talk about it.'

Nessa pressed her lips together, clearly disapproving, but accepting it nonetheless. 'Fine. Walk me to class?'

Elphaba softened. 'Of course.'

She pushed Nessa to her class, then moved on to her own. She lingered in the doorway for a moment, eyes trained on Fiyero. He looked up when he saw her enter and their eyes met for a moment; but then he looked away and she moved to her usual spot in the front, biting her lip until she could taste blood.

She had to apologise. She knew she had to apologise. He hadn't done anything wrong; she, on the other hand, had. It didn't matter if she wanted to be with him or not – he just deserved an apology.

_Why am I so stupid? _

'Miss Elphaba?' the professor said suddenly, and her head whipped up to face him.

He raised an eyebrow. 'Was there anything you wanted to share with us?'

Her cheeks burned – had she said that out loud? Oz, how embarrassing. 'Nothing, sir. I apologise,' she said quickly.

'Very well.' The professor turned towards the blackboard again. Boq, who was sitting next to the green girl, looked at her inquiringly. 'So?' he whispered. 'Why are you stupid?'

Her face went an even darker shade of red. 'How loud was I talking, exactly?' she asked fearfully.

Boq chuckled. 'Not loud enough,' he assured her. 'I'm pretty sure no-one heard you but me. It does make me wonder what's going on, though,' he continued. 'You're about the least stupid person I know.'

That did do absolutely nothing to alleviate the bright red colour of her face. 'Thanks,' she muttered. 'I guess.'

He rolled his eyes. 'We should really teach you how to gracefully accept a compliment,' he teased her.

She retorted, 'Galinda is working on it.'

'For real?'

She nodded, and he grinned. 'Well, good. So what –'

'Master Boq?' The professor peered at the Munchkin boy over his glasses. 'Would _you _like to tell us something?'

Now it was Boq's turn to go beet red. 'Um, no,' he stammered, and the professor sighed, shook his head, and continued with the lesson.

Moments later, a piece of paper appeared on Elphaba's desk. _Care to tell me what's going on?_

She took her pencil and scribbled down an answer, shoving it back to Boq.

_No._

He tried to meet her gaze, but she refused to look at him; and finally, he sighed and gave up.

The moment class was over, Elphaba sprinted out of the door, leaning against a wall to catch her breath.

_You're avoiding Fiyero_, a voice in her head said accusingly.

_I'm not!_

_Yes, you are. And you have absolutely no reason to. _He _should be the one avoiding _you_, not the other way around. You're the one that magically threw him against a tree._

She flushed at the mere memory, embarrassed. The stupid voice was right, of course.

_Apologise._

She saw him leaving the classroom amidst some other students. He was staring at his feet and he didn't look up.

_The moment he looks up, I'll go to him and I'll apologise._

He shuffled through the hallway, the students around him chattering and laughing, while he remained quiet.

_Come on, Fiyero, look up!_

_You know,_ the pesky voice in her head said, _you don't actually _need _him to look up to go and apologise to him._

On a rational level, she knew that. But she needed something. A sign of some kind.

She remained rooted to the spot, following him with her eyes as the other students dispersed and he continued to walk by himself.

_Look up, Fiyero, look up…_

He didn't. He disappeared around the corner without so much as raising his head.

_Go after him! _the voice in her head yelled. _Go after him and apologise!_

She wanted to. A part of her really wanted to.

But she didn't.

* * *

'Elphie, please?'

'Yes, Fabala, please?' Nessa chimed in. 'It'll be so much fun!'

Elphaba sighed, looking from the pleading face of her best friend to that of her sister. She knew she had been awful to them and she needed to make it up to them somehow… but did that really have to be by doing _this_?

'It's just a dance!' Nessa pleaded. 'It's not going to kill you!'

'The makeover that will precede it might,' Elphaba pointed out, making her sister giggle. Galinda just scowled at her friend.

'Shut up, Elphie. Come. To. The. Dance. Please!'

'You said you wanted to do something to make it up to us,' Nessa reminded her. 'If you do this, we promise to forgive you.'

'I thought you said you already forgave me.'

'Then we'll un-forgive you until you do this for us!' Galinda exclaimed happily. Nessa sniggered.

Elphaba threw her hands up into the air and caved. 'Fine,' she conceded. 'I'll come with you to the stupid dance.'

'Yay!' Galinda grabbed Nessa's chair and did a little dance around the room with the other girl. Nessa laughed, and as always, that made Elphaba smile. She would do anything for her sister and her best friend, and so she guessed she'd just have to suck this up, too.

'Dress time!' Nessa chirped, and Galinda threw open Elphaba's closet. Nessa joined her in front of it and they stared at the contents of it for a while.

'Doesn't she have _anything _that's not black?' Galinda whispered to Nessa, who laughed.

'Galinda, you know her,' she pointed out. 'I've never seen her in anything that's not black, I can assure you that much.'

Galinda bounced across the room and threw open her own closet. 'Let's see…' she mused out loud, starting to pull dresses from the closet and tossing them onto the bed behind her. 'This is Elphie we're talking about, so anything pink is out of the question.' That eliminated about half her wardrobe.

Elphaba smirked. 'I'm glad you're finally starting to realise that,' she teased, and Galinda stuck out her tongue.

'Too bright.' A few dresses joined the pile on the bed. 'Too frilly.' A few more. 'Too… green.'

'Excuse me?'

'I didn't mean it like _that_,' Galinda quickly assured her, 'but, I mean, this dress is about as green as you are. You'd look like you were naked if you were to wear it.'

Nessa flushed. Elphaba sniggered. 'Let's not do that, then.'

'Too yellow, too sparkly, too many ruffles, too orange, too many sequins… Elphie, I have nothing for you to wear!'

'Then let me wear one of my own dresses!'

Galinda and Nessa gasped in unison. 'No!' Nessa cried, while Galinda hissed at the same time, '_Never_.'

Elphaba looked offended. 'My wardrobe isn't _that_ bad,' she protested.

The two other girls exchanged a look. Nessa wheeled herself up to her sister and patted her arm in mock sympathy. 'Fabala…'

'It really is,' Galinda nodded earnestly.

Elphaba rolled her eyes.

Suddenly, Nessarose's face brightened. 'Oh! I have the perfect dress for her!' she exclaimed. 'Galinda, will you help me?'

'Of course!' the blonde agreed, and before Elphaba knew it, the two had left the room, chattering excitedly.

She let herself fall back onto her bed. She already regretted agreeing to come.

That feeling only worsened when Nessa and Galinda came back about ten minutes later, both of them giggling excitedly.

Elphaba eyed them warily. 'Do I _want _to know?'

'Get out of that frock and close your eyes,' Galinda instructed her, and Elphaba rolled her eyes first, but obeyed. She felt her friend sliding something heavy over her head, and she was about to open her mouth and protest against the heavy fabric when it settled on her shoulders and she closed her mouth again. It was less heavy than she had first thought it to be, and the fabric actually felt kind of nice against her skin.

She felt Galinda tugging at the skirt, smoothing it out, then stepping back. 'Alright, Elphie,' she said. 'Open your eyes.'

She did.

The first thing she saw was Nessa with tears in her eyes and her hands clamped over her mouth; next to her was Galinda, squealing and bouncing. 'Oh my Oz, Fabala…' Nessa whispered. 'You look so beautiful.'

Then Elphaba caught sight of her reflection in the mirror; and despite her skin, despite the fact that she'd never thought she could be anything even remotely resembling 'beautiful'…

…she could only agree.


	12. Chapter 12 That boy

**AN: This chapter and the next are both for Vinkunwildflowerqueen. I had something like this in mind all along, but it was her rule about formal wear in the rain that caused it to come out to way it did, so thank her for the idea ^_^.**

**And yes, Musicgal, the line in the previous chapter about the bouncy blonde strawberry cheesecake was for you. I know how much you enjoy Galinda being described as some kind of pastry :P. (But I'm glad everyone else liked it as well!)**

* * *

**Chapter 12. That boy**

When Elphaba, Nessarose and Galinda arrived at the OzDust Ballroom the night of the dance, Galinda made sure to get everyone's attention. She gracefully moved to stand at the top of the stairs, where everyone had perfect view on her. She struck a pose and squealed loudly, 'It's good to see me, isn't it?'

Everyone immediately turned to look at her, and she smiled and waved. 'No need to respond – that was rhetorical!' she giggled, basking in everyone's attention. She was wearing a lilac-and-silver dress with sparkles, beading, and sequins all over. Layers of tulle hid her legs from view, but allowed her ridiculously high silver heels to peep out from underneath it. She had straightened her hair for the occasion, which looked surprisingly good on her, and she was covered in jewellery that sparkled in the light.

Beaming, she slowly made her way down the stairs, smiling radiantly at everyone. Nessa, meanwhile, wheeled down the ramp to the side of the stairs, having spotted some of her friends in the crowd. The youngest Thropp was wearing a dark red, strapless dress that hugged her forms and gently flowed down to her feet, which were adorned with her father's jewelled shoes.

'Elphie!' Galinda hissed over her shoulder, noticing that her friend wasn't there. 'Come on!'

When the green girl didn't appear, she flashed a smile at her admirers and stomped back up the stairs, finding her friend out in the hallway and glaring at her. 'Elphie!'

'Everyone will stare, Glin!' Elphaba hissed back at her. 'Don't you think I've been stared at enough for a lifetime?'

'But this time, they will stare for a different reason!' the blonde insisted. 'Elphie, please? Come with me – they won't do anything as long as you're with me!'

'Fine,' Elphaba grumbled, and Galinda squealed, grabbed her arm, and pulled her back towards the stairs.

The blonde immediately spotted Fiyero in the crowd, and she grinned, happy that he had listened to her and showed up. She giggled when she saw his eyes widen and his jaw literally drop upon seeing Elphaba. Oh, yes. He had it bad.

But then again, Galinda decided as she studied her best friend, Elphaba _did _look stunning.

The green girl was wearing a royal blue dress, the colour somehow going perfectly with her emerald skin. The dress had a sweetheart neckline and sleeves that reached Elphaba's elbows, ending in a small band of tulle. The bodice hugged her forms to the point where Elphaba felt slightly uncomfortable, but Nessa and Galinda had assured her that she looked absolutely perfect. The skirt was full and reached the floor, another band of tulle just brushing the floor, and there was some beading covering the bodice and parts of the skirts, though nothing extreme. Galinda had borrowed her friend some matching jewellery – a silver necklace, silver earrings, and a silver bracelet, all adorned with small blue gemstones – and Nessa had gone through her own closet again and found her sister the perfect shoes to go with the dress. Galinda had then proceeded to curl Elphaba's hair, pinning half of it up while leaving the other half down, and she had carefully applied some make-up to Elphaba's face as well. She had been squealing and bouncing for about an hour after she had finished. She was convinced that she had never given anyone such an amazing makeover before.

Right now, she linked arms with Elphaba and they started down the stairs, Elphaba's posture stiff and rigid, Galinda smiling and waving and giggling at everyone. When they finally reached the bottom of the stairs, the blonde tugged at her friend's arm. 'Look, Elphie, there's Fifi.'

Elphaba's posture became even more tense.

Galinda squealed, 'Hi, Fifi!' and waved at him enthusiastically. She had meant to make sure Elphaba and Fiyero were alone, then sneak off to give them some privacy; but when Fiyero reached her and she looked around, she discovered that Elphaba was gone.

She swore softly under her breath. 'Stupid stubborn green girl!'

'What was that?' Fiyero asked as he reached her, and she flashed him a radiant smile. 'Nothing, Fifi.'

He sighed. 'So why did you want me to come, exactly?' he asked her.

She giggled nervously. 'Just stay here, okay?' she said to him, then bounced off.

He sighed again, but stayed put.

* * *

Galinda made her way to the other side of the ballroom before she finally located her green friend, who was downing a glass of punch. 'Elphie!' she squealed indignantly, lurching towards her. 'Don't drink that! Somebody spiked it!'

'That's the idea,' Elphaba muttered.

Galinda gaped at her. 'Are you trying to get drunk?'

'Fiyero is here.'

'_So_?'

'Don't give me that, Glin,' Elphaba said sternly. 'You set this up, didn't you?'

Galinda bit her lip.

'Right.' Elphaba poured herself another glass.

'Elphie,' Galinda tried again. 'Did you forget how horrendibly drunk you were after that gathering at Shenshen and Pfannee's? Do you really want to go through that again?'

'I don't care,' Elphaba snapped. 'I just… don't want to see him.'

Galinda rolled her eyes. 'You're being ridiculous.'

'You're being pushy.'

'Because you refuse to even talk to him!' Galinda sighed. 'Elphie, please? Just… come and dance with me. If you're really that adamant about staying away from him, then we don't have to go anywhere near him, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun, does it?'

Elphaba hesitated.

Galinda made googly eyes at her and pouted. 'Pretty please, Elphie?'

As always, Elphaba couldn't say no to that look. 'Fine,' she sighed. 'I'll come and dance with you.'

Galinda squealed. 'Yay!' She grabbed her friend's arm and pulled her onto the dance floor.

They danced for some time, and Elphaba, much to her own surprise, had to admit that she was actually having fun. After a while, she and Galinda collapsed against a wall, slightly out of breath, but both of them laughing.

'You know?' Elphaba said, sounding a bit breathless. 'This is actually pretty fun.'

Galinda beamed at her. 'See? Parties aren't always horrendible, Elphie!'

Elphaba laughed. 'Fine, fine, you win. Parties aren't always horrible.'

'I'm going to get something to drink,' said Galinda. 'I'm parched. Do you want anything?'

Elphaba grinned wickedly. 'Does the fact that you're so thirsty have anything to do with the fact that Boq is currently standing at the refreshments table?'

Galinda flushed bright red. 'Boq?' she said with a nervous laugh. 'Why would I be interested in Boq? I don't even know his name.'

'You just mentioned his name. Twice.'

'Yes, but –'

'And I've been wanting to ask you that, too – what in Oz happened during your Seven Minutes in Heaven?' Elphaba smirked. 'Or should I say _Ten _Minutes in Heaven?'

'Do you want a drink or not?' Galinda squeaked, and Elphaba laughed, then shook her head.

'I'm feeling a bit warm,' she said. 'I think I'll go outside for a moment.'

'There's a small garden at the back of the building,' Galinda informed her. 'Through the hallway and then the door on the left. People go there to make out sometimes, but other than that, it's quiet there. And it's private property, which is probably safer than you just stepping out onto the streets, you know, where all the rapists and the murderers and the kidnappers are…'

Elphaba sniggered. 'I think I'll be fine, Glin. I'll find you again in half an hour or so, okay? Does that give you enough time to make out with Boq?'

'Elphie!' Galinda screeched.

Elphaba cackled, then made her way to the back yard of the OzDust, breathing in the fresh night air. It was true – she _had _been having fun – but the room had still been crowded, warm and full, and she needed some space and fresh air.

Luckily, no one else was there, and so she perched on the rocking bench, swinging softly back and forth. It didn't take long for another person to arrive and she sighed inwardly – was a minute alone really so much to ask? She didn't look at the person, willing them with her mind to go away; but when she finally looked up, her heart sank.

It was Fiyero.

'What are you doing here?' she asked flatly.

'Galinda told me to come,' he said. 'I was just about to leave, but then I saw you heading here.'

'And so you followed me.'

'As you can see.'

'You should have just left.'

She could feel his eyes on her, but she refused to look up again, fixing her gaze on her hands instead.

He asked softly, 'Do you really mean that?'

'I have nothing to say to you,' she said sharply, inadvertently looking up. The look she found there in his eyes almost broke her heart.

'Really?' he asked her sadly. 'You can't even speak to me anymore now?'

She didn't say anything.

'I know I pushed you too far,' he said softly. 'And I'm sorry. But can't we at least go back to being friends again? Please?'

She shook her head wordlessly.

He just stood there, not saying anything else, and it unnerved her to no end. '_What_?' she snapped finally.

He stared at her incredulously. '_Really_?' he demanded, getting angry now himself. 'First you kiss me back. Then you start ignoring me. You yell at me, you throw me against a tree,' she winced slightly at the memory, 'then you tell me you can't even be _friends _with me anymore, and now all you have to say to me is 'what'?'

'No,' she sneered. 'I don't have _anything _to say to you.'

'I didn't do anything _wrong_, Elphaba! I just told you how I felt! And I know it came out of thin air, and I know it was probably overwhelming for you, but I apologised for it, didn't I? I just don't understand why you're acting like this!'

She kept silent.

He threw his hands into the air in surrender. 'Fine. Never mind. I give up.' He slumped down on a bench across from Elphaba, his head in his hands.

She peeked at him through her eyelashes. That irritating voice in her head started whining again.

_He's right, you know. He didn't do anything wrong._

_Shut up._

_You're only saying that because you know he's right, and now you're feeling guilty._

She sighed. It was true, after all.

She looked at him again, then closed her eyes and blurted it out. 'I'm sorry, okay?'

She knew he looked up, but she refused to meet his gaze. 'You're right,' she said gruffly. 'You didn't do anything wrong. I'm sorry.'

He didn't say anything, but from the corners of her eyes she could see him nod.

'Is that all you're going to do?' she said irritably. 'Nod?'

Thunder rumbled in the distance. She winced, but didn't dare let him see it.

He sighed. 'What do you want me to do, then?'

'I don't know. Say you're sorry, too.'

'For what, Fae?'

'Don't call me that,' she snarled. The first raindrops started to fall, and she rose to her feet and glared at him. 'Never mind. Whatever. I'm going back inside now,' she announced. 'Bye, Fiyero.'

He quickly got up as well, blocking her way to the door. 'Can't we just talk about this?' he asked her pleadingly.

'Like I said, Fiyero,' she said tiredly. 'I don't _want _to talk.'

He didn't budge, and she pushed past him, intending to go inside. The yelp of pain that escaped his lips, however, stopped her.

She whirled around. 'What's wrong?'

He was slightly hunched over, trying to catch his breath. 'Bruised ribs,' he choked out, sinking down onto the bench.

It took a while for the meaning of his words to dawn on her, but when it did, her eyes widened and she clamped both hands over her mouth, horrified. 'Did I…'

'My ribs aren't really used to colliding with trees,' he said a bit sourly.

She suddenly felt tears pricking her eyes. 'Oh, Yero…' she whispered. 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you, I just…'

'Wanted to make a point?' he finished. 'I get that, Elphaba. I don't blame you for the magic incident. I know you can't help it.'

She shook her head vigorously, suddenly hating herself. 'You _should _blame me,' she said softly. 'I… I really had no reason to fly off the handle like that.' She bit her lip. 'I really had no good reason to act the way I did at all,' she added, her voice barely audible.

The rain started coming down more steadily, but neither of them even noticed. Fiyero just looked at her. 'So why did you?'

Her mood instantly turned around. 'Oh, so now you're pushing me again?'

'I'm not pushing, I'm –'

'What does it matter why I did it? I am trying to apologise here, but _of course _you have to ruin it again!'

'Elphaba, after everything you said to me – and, may I add, after slamming me into a tree – I think I at least have a right to know why you did it!'

'Because you scared me to death with everything you said that night in the library!' she suddenly screamed at him. She angrily wiped a strand of soaked hair away from her face. 'Because I love you, too, Oz dammit, and I'm scared! Okay? Happy now?'

As if to emphasise her words, a flash of lightning lit up the sky.

* * *

**See that little review button down there? It loves you. Why don't you love it back? ^_^**


	13. Chapter 13 That girl

**AN: Here's the next chapter. With fluff. Because I can never keep Elphie and Fiyero apart for long :).**

**Ooh, 97 reviews... who will give me the 100th review? I'll give you virtual homemade brownies! **

**I'm currently debating whether I want to end this in a chapter or two, while they're still at Shiz, or whether I want to take this further, Elphaba getting invited to meet the Wizard, etc. etc.. What do you guys think?**

* * *

**Chapter 13. That girl**

Her eyes widened in horror – and it was not because of the storm. 'I did not just say that. Please tell me I did not just say that!' she almost begged him.

Fiyero looked at her. Quite frankly, he wasn't sure what to think anymore. 'I can't,' he said. 'You did say it.'

She buried her face in her hands.

'But if you want to take it back,' he said tiredly, 'then fine. I know you don't want anything to do with me anymore and I'm going to stop trying, because I'm only torturing myself by not giving up. Let's just leave it at this: I appreciate and accept your apology. Let's just be civil to one another. And now I'm going inside.' He rose to his feet and moved over to the door…

…only to find it locked.

He cursed under his breath.

'It's locked?!' Elphaba's voice rose a little in pitch. She ran over to the door and pushed against it, then started pulling. 'It's locked! What did you do?'

'I didn't do anything!' he protested. 'Maybe it just automatically locks when you close it!'

'Didn't you _know _that?!'

'How should I?'

She was about to retort, but then she caught a flash of something lilac and silver inside, and her jaw dropped. 'Oh, no.'

Fiyero followed her gaze. There, on the other side of the glass door, was Galinda, smiling wickedly and holding up a key.

'She locked us out?!' Elphaba burst out. She started banging on the door. 'Galinda!' she yelled. 'Let us in!'

The blonde shook her head, then pursed her lips and pretended to kiss someone.

Elphaba growled. 'Really?'

Galinda waved sweetly, then left.

Elphaba huffed and crossed her arms, then retreated to the rocking bench again. Fiyero sat back down on the other bench across from her.

'So…' he began, but she held up one hand.

'Not a word.'

'But –'

'Not. A. Word,' Elphaba grunted. Fiyero closed his mouth and didn't say anything else.

Elphaba shivered in her wet clothes. She wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to stay warm, but that didn't help much. She grumbled. _If I get pneumonia, it's going to be Galinda's fault._

She looked at Fiyero. He, too, had wrapped his arms around himself. He was staring at his feet and he looked miserable.

Suddenly she felt very guilty.

'I'm doing it again, aren't I?' she said in a small voice that was so unlike her, it startled her. 'I… I'm sorry.'

'For what?' He sounded weary.

She bit her lip. 'Everything,' she admitted. 'For avoiding you, and ignoring you, and yelling at you, and unleashing my magic at you… avoiding you again, then yelling at you again…'

He chuckled slightly, and she felt sheepish. 'You were right.,' she said. 'You didn't deserve that.'

He was silent for a moment. Then he said, 'What about kissing me? Are you sorry for that, too?'

Her teeth pierced her lip now. She tasted blood. She closed her eyes.

_Be honest._

She whispered, 'No.'

He looked at her. 'And… and what you just said…'

He trailed off, but of course she knew very well what he was talking about. Now she felt guilty, sheepish and stupid at the same time. She hung her head. Her voice was even softer than before as she said, 'That was true.'

Now he sounded hopeful. 'Really?'

Thunder rumbled again, closer this time. Elphaba dug her nails into her waist.

'Yes, really,' she snapped. She pulled her legs up, hugging her knees to her chest.

Fiyero's voice was a lot gentler when he said, 'It's okay to be scared, you know.'

She started chewing her lip again.

'I thought we went over this last time,' he said with a small laugh. 'Storms, spiders… love. In the end, it doesn't make much difference what it is that you're afraid of. All that matter is that you learn to face your fears.' He was quiet for a moment, then added softly, 'Alone, or together.'

She remembered the library. She remembered the kiss. The storm. How good it had felt to have someone there with her, someone whom she could admit to that she was afraid. Someone who hadn't laughed at her. Someone to comfort her.

And just for a moment, she allowed herself to imagine what it would be like to have someone like that with her for the rest of her life. To have _him _with her for the rest of her life.

And then she started crying.

Quite frankly, Fiyero was completely baffled. He didn't think he'd ever seen Elphaba cry. Ever. If he had ever taken the time to imagine what it would be like, he would have thought it would be unnerving, to say the least; but the truth was that it was so much worse than that. It broke his heart just looking at it.

Without really thinking about what he was doing – something not uncommon for him – he moved to sit next to her on the rocking bench and wrapped her in his arms.

For a moment, she tensed a little, and he thought she would pull away; but then she buried her face in his shoulder and leaned against him, her entire body shaking as she cried.

'I'm _so _sorry,' she hiccupped between sobs, her face still hidden in his tux. 'F-for being m-mean to you… And for r-running away, and…' She looked up, the rain mingling with the tears on her face. 'And for your ribs,' she sniffled. 'I can't believe I actually gave you bruised ribs!'

He had to chuckle slightly at that and he pulled her back into his arms again – _where she belonged_, he couldn't help but add in his mind. 'It's okay, Fae.'

She shook her head frantically. 'No, it's not!' she insisted. 'None of it is okay!'

He gently stroked her hair. 'Yes, it is.'

A flash of lightning lit up the sky, closely followed by the roaring thunder. Elphaba let out a very un-Elphaba-like squeak.

When Fiyero shifted a little, she gripped his shirt with both hands to the point where her knuckles went white. 'Don't go!'

'I'm not going anywhere. I would never leave you alone in a storm, you know that.' He repositioned himself on the bench so that she was tucked against his side, her head on his shoulder and his arm around her.

'Besides,' he continued, 'where could I go? Galinda still hasn't unlocked the door.'

Elphaba sighed. He could feel her trembling, but whether that was because of the storm, the cold or the emotions she was feeling, he couldn't tell.

'What are you thinking?' he asked her quietly.

She sighed again, heavier this time. 'That I'm an awful person and I don't deserve you.'

He pulled away to look at her, startled. 'What?' he demanded. 'Why would you say that?'

'I bruised your _ribs_, Fiyero,' she stressed. 'I flung you against a tree. I've been nothing but awful to you lately, yet here you are.'

'Like I said, I would never leave you alone, Fae. Especially not in a storm.'

'You should,' she said. 'You shouldn't be comforting me. You should be yelling at me and slapping me in the face and then leaving me alone to rot.'

His grip around her tightened. 'Don't say that.'

'Well, why are you still here, then?' she asked him softly.

He shrugged. 'Because I already forgave you for all that,' he said. 'That's what you do when you love someone. You forgive them, no matter what they've done to you.'

She looked up at him, her chocolate eyes wide and doe-like. 'Are you saying you still love me?' she asked incredulously.

He actually laughed out loud. 'What, just because you bruised my ribs and yelled at me, you thought I wouldn't love you anymore?' He shook his head with a smile. 'If you want me to stop loving you, you're going to have to try harder than that.'

She snorted. 'What? Throw you off a building? Cause you to end up in a hospital?' she asked sarcastically.

He grinned at her. 'That would be a start, yes.'

They were both silent for a moment. The rain was still pouring down on them, and when there was a rumble of thunder once more, Elphaba flinched, unable to stop a soft whimper from escaping her lips.

Fiyero softly rubbed her upper arms. 'It's okay,' he whispered in her ear. 'It's moving away from us now.'

She didn't say anything, just burrowed into his chest as he held her tightly.

Fiyero was the one to break the silence. 'Do you…' He cleared his throat and tried again. 'Do you want me to?'

She looked up at him.

'Stop loving you,' he clarified.

Her eyes widened for a moment. Then she lowered them, biting her lip.

'No.'

He ran his fingers through her hair. 'Really?' He paused, uncertain. 'What do you want, then?'

She didn't look at him, stared off into the distance instead, as she thought about that. What _did _she want?

Her first instinct was to push him away again, but there came that annoying voice in her head once more. _Be honest, Elphaba. You know what you want, you're just too scared to admit it. But he's right – it's okay to be scared. Just tell him. Just let him in._

'I want…' She closed her eyes.

'I want to forget everything that happened,' she whispered. 'I want to go back in time, to the library, or right afterwards, and… and do it right this time. No running, no yelling, no magic outbursts. I… I don't want to be afraid anymore. I want you to tell me you love me again, and this time, I want to say it back. Because I do. Love you, I mean.'

He didn't think he had ever heard more wonderful words from anyone's lips in his entire life.

She looked up at him again. 'Is it too late for that?' she asked him softly.

He paused, threading his fingers through her hair, lost in thought. 'Well,' he said finally. 'I can't turn back time.'

Her heart sank.

But then he smiled and kissed the top of her head. 'But it's never too late to start over, is it?'

She held her breath. He pulled her closer…

…and then he kissed her.

And it just felt _right_. She couldn't believe she'd shut him out like that. How could she ever have denied her feelings for him?

She melted into the kiss, and when he finally pulled away to rest his forehead against hers, they were both a little breathless. 'Did you mean that?' he asked her quietly.

She didn't have to ask what he meant. Instead, she just smiled. 'Try me.'

'Okay.' He traced her jaw line with his index finger. 'I love you.'

Part of him expected her to bolt again, but she kept to her word. Her smile widened and she kissed him softly.

'I love you, too, Yero.'

A goofy grin spread across his face and he cupped her face, kissing her deeply again. She wound her arms around his neck and kissed him back, even the storm forgotten now.

Suddenly, a new voice called, '_Finally_. Took you long enough.'

They broke apart to stare at Galinda, who had opened the door and was smirking at them. 'You can come back in now.'

Elphaba jumped to her feet and stomped over towards the blonde, dark eyes flickering dangerously. 'Galinda Upland,' she hissed, 'you are one dead little blonde!'

Galinda gulped, then bolted, disappearing back into the ballroom.

Fiyero chuckled and moved back over to Elphaba, leading her inside. Once they were back in the hallway, they both leaned against a wall, slightly out of breath and dripping wet.

Elphaba touched her hair, which had been perfect only a few hours ago, but was now dripping with rain water. She sighed. 'So far for my one night being beautiful.'

Fiyero smiled and cupped her cheek. 'You're always beautiful,' he whispered, before softly kissing her again. He pressed her against a wall, tangling his fingers in her ebony hair.

'Let me go!' she protested weakly between kisses. 'I have a bouncy cupcake to murder first!'

He laughed, but didn't let go. 'Well,' he murmured as he kissed her temple. 'You could go and murder Galinda right now…' His lips drifted down her cheek and back to her own lips. 'Or you could stay here and kiss me.'

She smiled against his lips and slipped her arms around his neck again, making up her mind. 'Galinda will still be there in the morning.'

He smiled, too, and kissed her again.

'I was hoping you'd say that.'


	14. Chapter 14 Dreamed a dream (or two)

**AN: I'm going to continue it, since most of you voted for that, but I'm going to do it in a sequel. I feel like this story was just a short fluffy thingy about them getting together, and the romance-on-the-run-thing will be somewhat different, so this is the last chapter of Blow My Mind. I split up this chapter; the second part is some kind of epilogue, that will also be a prologue to the sequel, which will be up one of these days and will be called Be With Me :).**

**Thanks for all your amazing reviews! ^_^**

* * *

**Chapter 14. Dreamed a dream (or two)**

When there was a knock on the door the next morning, Galinda sighed and got up.

'Look,' she said tiredly as she opened the door, 'I don't know why you're here, but I really don't have time for… Avaric?' She blinked upon seeing the other boy standing there. 'What are you doing here?'

Then she realised that he wasn't alone. 'And why in Oz are you dragging Fiyero with you?' she added, scowling.

Avaric cursed under his breath and unceremoniously dumped the Vinkun prince against a wall. 'Because,' he said irritably, 'despite the fact that he's a prince, my friend and my roommate, I still refuse to take care of him when he's sick. I mean, look at him. There's _snot_ coming out of his nose.'

'Yes, well,' Fiyero groaned, glaring first at Avaric, then at Galinda, 'that's usually what happens when you get a cold because _someone _locked you out in the rain for hours.'

'It wasn't hours!' Galinda protested. 'It was half an hour at most! And how was I supposed to know that mister the strong and muscular Vinkun prince would get sick because of a few lousy minutes in the rain? Seriously, Fifi, I would have thought you to be stronger than that,' she said in a reprimanding tone of voice, as if it was his own fault that he got sick.

Avaric snickered. 'Well, anyway, here he is,' he said, shoving Fiyero forward. 'Take good care of him.'

'What!' cried Galinda. 'Why me?'

Avaric shrugged. 'You're his girlfriend,' he said.

Galinda glared at him. 'I'm not!'

Avaric held up his hands. 'Ex-girlfriend?' he tried. 'Friend? Whatever. I don't really care what you are to him. The point is that _I _am not going to take care of him.'

'I can't, either!' Galinda insisted. 'I already have Elphie to take care of! What am I, a nurse?'

Avaric grinned at her. 'Yep.' Then he left.

Fiyero blinked a few times, then raised his head, looking slightly alarmed. 'Why do you have to take care of Fae?' he asked anxiously. 'Is she okay?'

Galinda rolled her eyes. 'Fine,' she sighed. 'But apparently, you're not the only one who can't take a few minutes of rain without getting sick.' She hauled his arm over her shoulders and dragged him inside.

He headed for Galinda's bed, but she swatted him away. 'Oh, no, no way!' she cried. 'You are _not _sleeping in my bed! Can you imagine all the bacteriolia that would end up in my bed?'

'Bacteria,' Fiyero muttered.

'You just go ahead and snuggle with Elphie – Oz knows you both could use it,' Galinda continued as if she hadn't been interrupted at all, 'and I'll go and get some chicken soup or something.' With that, she, too, left.

Fiyero sighed and sank down onto the edge of Elphaba's bed. She was lying with her back towards him, asleep, and he kicked off his shoes and crawled under the blankets next to her.

The moment she felt him move, her eyelids fluttered open and she half-turned to look at him. 'Yero?' she asked sleepily. 'What are you doing here?'

'I'm sick,' he mumbled. 'Avaric told Galinda to take care of me.'

She chuckled weakly and reached for his hand. 'Serves her well,' she murmured, her head dropping against his shoulder. 'It's her fault we're sick, after all.'

He kissed the top of her head. 'Still,' he said. 'I'm kind of glad that she did lock us out, or we might have never made things right between us.'

She sighed, snuggling closer to him. 'Yeah…'

When Galinda came back, that's how she found them – in Elphie's bed together, with the green girl wrapped in Fiyero's arms, both of them fast asleep. She squealed softly at the sight.

Fiyero frowned, then muttered, 'That squeal can really only belong to one person.'

Elphaba cracked open one eye. 'It took me an hour to fall asleep in the first place,' she complained. 'Did you _have _to wake me up?'

Galinda grinned at them. 'Sorry.' She didn't look sorry, though.

She skipped across the room and sat two bowls on the nightstand. 'I brought you chicken soup!'

Elphaba winced. 'Volume, Galinda.'

'Oh.' Galinda lowered her voice to a whisper. 'Sorry. But don't you want chicken soup?' she rambled on. 'It's good for sick people, and the sooner those bacterilias are gone, the better.'

'Bacteria,' Elphaba and Fiyero corrected her at the same time.

Galinda scowled. 'Did you two want chicken soup on your heads?' she grumbled.

Elphaba just sniggered softly.

'Can you feed us?' Fiyero whined.

Galinda looked at him as if he had gone crazy. 'Feed you?' she echoed. 'And get bacteri… _thingies_… all over myself? No way.' She pushed one of the bowls into his hands. 'You're the prince here,' she informed him. 'You be a gentleman and feed your princess. _I _am going out with Pfannee and Shenshen before I risk getting sick myself.' She grabbed her purse and waved sweetly at them both. 'Bye!'

'You heard her,' Elphaba muttered. 'Feed me.'

Fiyero chuckled. 'My pleasure. Here, sit up.'

He helped her prop a few pillows behind her back, then sat up himself and filled a spoon with soup. 'Here comes the carriage…'

She scowled at him. 'I'm sick,' she grumbled. 'Not a toddler.'

He grinned at her. 'Humour me.'

She rolled her eyes, but obediently opened her mouth, and he fed her the soup, one spoonful at a time. 'Fae?'

She swallowed the soup. 'Yeah?'

He looked at her, his gaze opaque. 'About… you know… that, um… _thing_…'

'Spit it out, Fiyero.'

He sighed and dropped the spoon into the bowl. 'About what I said. That day – night – at the library.'

She sat up a little. 'Yes.'

He put the bowl back onto the nightstand and turned to look at her. 'About living together, and stuff.'

She nodded.

'You…' He swallowed. 'You never told me, you know… how you feel about that.'

She bit her lip.

'I mean, you don't have to make a decision right now,' he hurried to assure her. 'I was just wondering, you know… if you'd thought about it.'

She leaned her head against his shoulder, tired. 'I… I have, I guess,' she said quietly. 'But I'm not really sure… I mean, I love you.'

Those words never failed to make him grin goofily.

'But I'm not sure about… you know…' She chewed the inside of her cheek thoughtfully. 'That. I mean… it's so final, you know?' she tried to explain. 'It's like… forever.'

His grin widened. 'Exactly.'

She elbowed him in the side, and he doubled over. 'Ow,' he gasped. 'Ribs.'

She blanched. 'Oh, Yero, I'm sorry!' she exclaimed, horrified with herself. 'I didn't mean to –'

He looked up at her. 'Well,' he said teasingly, 'remind me not to piss you off next time.'

She kept on stammering apologies, but he just laughed and drew her close, planting a kiss in her hair. 'It's fine, Fae. Really. And you don't have to answer my question if you don't want to,' he added. 'I was just wondering.'

She looked at him. He couldn't really name what he saw in her eyes, but she was as unreadable to him as ever.

'I…' She sneezed and wiped her nose with her sleeve. 'Ugh. Sorry.'

He chuckled. 'I can hardly blame you for sneezing when I'm the one snivelling all over your pillow.'

She smiled, laying her head on his chest. 'You can snivel into my pillow any time you want,' she murmured.

He grinned again. 'Really?'

She looked up at him. 'Yero, I…' She hesitated, then said softly, 'I'm an idiot.'

He raised one eyebrow.

'I mean…' She sighed. 'You're so wonderful,' she said. 'You always say and do the right thing, you're sweet and you always understand me perfectly, even when I'm at my worst… and you never gave up on me, no matter how hard I pushed you away. You're the only one who's ever done that. Beside Galinda,' she added. 'I just… what have I ever done to deserve you?'

He smiled and leaned down to kiss her briefly. 'Trust me, Fae. I'm the one who should be asking that question. But what were you trying to say?'

'Just that I feel really stupid for not jumping up and yelling 'yes!' into your face.' She sighed. 'But the truth is, I… I don't know. I mean… I can see us… having a future together, I guess. But I'm not sure about it all, and it's still so far away, and…'

'Do you love me?' Fiyero interrupted her.

She looked up at him. 'I just said I did, didn't I?'

He brushed a strand of hair away from her face and kissed her forehead gently. 'Then that's all I need. We'll see about everything else, Fae. We can take on the future when it presents itself. For now, let's just… be together. Okay? Are you okay with that?'

She nodded against his chest, snuggling into him with a happy sigh. 'I'd love that.'

'Good.' He kissed the top of her head and put his arms around her.

It didn't take them much longer to fall asleep.

From that day on, everything was alright between the two of them again, and, as Galinda put it, 'Fiyeraba was back in business!'. They went on a couple of dates (with Galinda giving her friend a makeover every single time, no matter how fervently the green girl protested) and soon, Elphaba didn't even remember why she had been so mean to him at first. Their relationship was without a shadow of a doubt the best thing that had ever happened to her, and she was determined to cherish it for as long as he would let her – which he claimed would be forever, even though she herself wasn't quite sure about that just yet.

* * *

**Epilogue**

It was one day when Elphaba and Galinda were in Sorcery class together that Elphaba got the news.

'Miss Elphaba?' Morrible called when the green girl made to leave the classroom at the end of the lesson. 'Could you stay for another moment?'

Galinda looked at Elphaba questioningly, but the green girl nodded for her to go ahead. 'I won't be long,' she promised.

'I'll wait in the hallway.' With that, Galinda skipped out of the room.

Elphaba turned back to face the Headshiztress. 'Yes, Madame?'

Morrible smiled sweetly and held up an emerald green envelope with a golden seal. 'Great news, dearie.' She handed Elphaba the envelope.

The dark-haired witch turned it around in her hands, frowning slightly. 'This is from… the Emerald City?'

'Look at the seal, dearie,' Morrible instructed her, and Elphaba did.

She gasped. 'The… the Wizard?'

Morrible nodded, beaming. 'Yes, dearie. The Wizard wrote to me, asking me to give you this… but then I think you and I both know what's inside, don't we?'

Elphaba was sure her eyes would fall out of their sockets. 'But… But I…' she stammered, baffled.

Morrible patted her shoulder. 'Open it, dearie.'

Still in a daze, Elphaba did, her eyes quickly skimming over the letter that was inside. She paled a few shades. Then, slowly, a radiant smile spread across her face.

Morrible chuckled. 'Go ahead, dearie,' she said, waving her best student away. 'I know Miss Galinda is waiting outside and you're probably dying to share the news with her.'

Before she'd even finished speaking, Elphaba burst out of the door, storming outside and skidding to a stop in front of her blonde friend. 'Glin!'

Galinda blinked at her. 'You're glowing,' she stated. 'And it's not your usual Oh-My-Oz-I'm-With-Fiyero-glow.'

Elphaba grinned at her.

The blonde's eye fell upon the envelope in her friend's hand, and her eyes widened to the size of saucers. 'Elphie!' she screeched. 'Is that what I think it is?!'

'Yes!' Elphaba actually started jumping up and down - she hadn't thought herself capable of it, but she was too giddy to care. 'The Wizard asked me to come to the City and meet him!'

'Elphie!' Galinda screeched again. 'You're going to meet the Wizard!'

'I know!'

'You're off to see the _Wizard_, Elphie!'

'I _know_!'

'We need to go and tell Fiyero!' Without waiting for a reply, she grabbed Elphaba's hand and dragged her through the hallway in the direction of the courtyard.

Elphaba just couldn't wipe that stupid grin off her face. Not even when the other students they came across sent strange looks in her direction.

She was so happy that she didn't even care when Galinda spotted Fiyero across the courtyard and yelled at the top of her lungs, 'FIYERO! ELPHIE IS GOING TO MEET THE WIZARD!' and every other student stopped to gape at the two girls.

This was it. The start of her new life. Her one dream had come true when she had gotten together with Fiyero, and now her other big dream was coming true as well.

She was meeting the Wizard.


End file.
